


Jl)My<U>yrYJv0^6'4 m^ 







(7^^<^ 



'iApiJ^fhj -&(nr[iAae^ . 



BORN AUGUST 15, 1799. 




GE WEBSTER 



ENGRAVINGS BY 
F. HEDGE. 



PRINTED BY W. G. CRAWFORD, 
BOSTON, MASS. 







TO THE FRIENDS OF HUMANITY, 

TO THE HYDE PARK THOUGHT CLUB, 

AND 

TO THE DEAR MOTHER 

WHO HAS BEEN SO CONSTANT A CHEERER, THIS LITTLE BOOK 
IS LOVINGLY 



DEDICATED, 



WITH THE HOPE THAT ITS HUMBLE FLOWERS AND GARNERED 
THOUGHT LEAVES MAY YIELD SOME SAVOR 
OF HOPE AND JOY. 



?0fic^r\n 



CONTENTS. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



PAGE. 

Lines to the Merrimac, - - - - - 9 

A Whisper with Autumn, - - - - 10 

Compensations, - - - - - - 11 

Lines to Fredereka Bremer, - - - - 12 

Divine Earnestness, . - - - ■* " ^3 

The Mother Heart, . - - - - - 15 

The New Year, - - - - - - 16 

The Dew Drops of Grief, - - - - 17 

A Good Time Coming, - - - - - 18 

Parasites, ------ 20 

The Angel's Word, - - - - - 21 

We Are a Part of the Divine Power, - - - 22 

" It Might Have Been," - - - - - 24 

Follow Me ! - - - - - - 25 

" The Waters Were Risen." - - - - 26 

" Free Indeed." _____ 27 

Comforting Promises, - - - - - 29 

Work, --.___ 30 

He Will Give His Angels Charge, - - - ■ 34 

" Thy Kingdom Come," - - _• _ 31J 

Great Peace Have They Who Love Thy Law, - - 36 

" If I be Lifted Up, I Will Draw All Men Unto Me," - 37 

Trust, - - - - - - - 38 

" Consider the Lilies," - - - - 39 

A True Sketch, - - - - - - 40 

Fruitfulness in the Divine Life, - - - 41 

No Heaven Alone, - - - - - 45 

The Household of Faith, - - - - 46 

Who is My Neighbor, - - - - - 47 

The Bigot, ------ 47 



IV CONTENTS. 

Cast thy Burden on the Lord, - - - - 48 

" Blessed are They that do His Commandments, that They may 

have Right to the Tree of Life, - - - 49 

The Vintage, - - - - - - 50 

Some Reasons why Women should have Part in Government, 51 

Happy New Year ! - - - - - 58 

Heaven Within, - - - - - 58 

Criticism, as an Aid to Growth, - - - - 59 

To the Comet of 1858, - - - - 61 

Sex-Holiness, - - - - - '63 

Truth's Wanderings, - - - . - 65 

" Living Waters," - - . _ - 66 

The Ocean of God's Love I'll Trust, - - - 69 

•' Have Salt in Yourselves," — Christ, - - - 69 

" A City which hath Foundations," - - - 71 

Some Thoughts on the Woman Question, - - - 73 

New Year's Musings, - - .- - 74 

Notes on Plato, - - - - - - 75 

Fast Day Hymn, - - - " ■ 77 

The Ballot for Women, - - - - "79 

The Centennial Year, - - - - 80 

Our Nation's Trial, - - - - - 81 

Fourth of July, . . . . _ 82 

Grant, - - - - - - - 82 

" Let us have Peace," - - - - 83 

''That they All may be One," - - - - 84 

"What Cheer?" ..... 86 

" Not Good for the Man to be Alone," - - - 87 

The Potter, - . - . - - 91 

The Precious Jewels, - . - - - 92 

How to Prevent Divorce, - - - - 93 

Thanksgiving, - - - - - - 93 

George Ripley, . . . _ .94 

Complaint of the Blustering Wind, - - - 96 

Angelina Grimke Weld, . . _ . 99 

Harvest Hymn, - - - - . - loi 

A Touching Memorial, _ _ _ _ 102 

An Autumn Idyl, . . _ . . 104 

"There Remaineth a Rest" for the People of God, - 105 

A Birthday Reminisence, . - - - - 106 

" God Speed the Day," .... 107 



CONTENTS. V 

Why Does Not Suffrage Come? . . _ _ 108 

On Whittier's Seventy-first Birthday, - - - 109 
Cause and Effect, ----- 109 

Our Departed Heroes. - - - - 114 

Blush Koses, - - - - - - 115 

A Parlor Meeting, - - - - - 116 

To a Clover Blossom. - - - - - 118 

The People's Rights, - - - - - 118 

Tribute to Whittier, - - - - .121 

A Fevv^ Days in Montreal, - . - - 121 

A Prayer, - - - - - -124 

Quebec and its Approaches, . _ - - 124 
" Rejoice Evermore," ----- 127 

A Plymouth Outing, ----- 128 

Lydia Maria Child, - - - - - - I30 

GATHERED LEAVES. 

Rev. William Channing, - - - - 139 

The Thought Club, _ - - - 140 

Rev. Mr. Ferry, . _ - _ _ 141 

Temperance, - _ _ _ _ 1^2 

An Evening With Alice and Phoebe Cary, - - 143 

Justice to Women, ----- 146 

Limitations, - - - - - - 146 

Rev. J. N. Pardee, ----- 147 

Maria Mitchell, - - - - - 148 

The Rev. Mr. Flower, - - - - 148 

The Lucy Hayes' Testimonial, - _ - - 1^0 

Mary F. Eastman on Woman Suffrage, - - 150 

Rev. Mr. Nightingale, - - - - 1^2 

Parlor Lecture, ----- 1^2 

The Thought Club, - - - - - 102 

Sarah Winnemucca, - - _ _ i^-^ 

Rev. Mr. Hudson, - - - - - 153 

Rouse to Some Work, - - - - 1.54 

School Suffrage, - - - - ~ ^55 

An Evening With Browning, _ . - i j^6 

Rev. O. P. Gifford, - - - - - 158 

Lecture by Rev. Minot J. Savage, - - - 1^8 

Hawthorne on Women Preachers, - . - 160 



VI CONTENTS. 

A Touching Anecdote of Victor Hugo, - - i6o 

Rev. Charles Nojes, - - - - - i6i 

Work Out Your Own Salvation, _ _ _ i6i 

Home Influence, - - - - - - 162 

Floral Sunday, - - - - - 163 

Rev. Mr. Buck, - - - - - 164 

Gems from Sunday Service, _ - - - 165 

"The Study of History," - - - - 165 

Rev. John D. Wells, _ . - - 167 

Hungering for Righteousness, _ _ _ - 169 

Language is a Difficult Instrument, _ _ _ 169 

Rev. Brooke Hereford, - - - - - 170 

Conscience, - - - - - 171 

Mrs. Anna Garlin Spencer, - - - - 171 

Rev. H. Badger, on What is Truth.? - - - 172 

Women and School Suffrage, - - - - 174 

The Thought Club, _ _ - . 174 

Tallyrand and Elizabeth C. Stanton, _ _ - 174 

Mrs. Livermore on Our Girls, _ _ _ 176 

An Evening with Wordsworth, - ,^- - - 177 

What is the Use of Poetry, _ _ _ _ 177 

Ode to Beauty, - - - - - 178 

Henry Ward Beecher, _ _ _ _ 178 

Testimonial to Theodore D. Weld, - - - - 179 

Shall Women Help.? - _ - - _ 182 

William Lloyd Garrison, _ _ _ _ 183 

Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller, _ . - 183 

The Thought Club, - - - - - 185 

The Rev. H. Bernard Carpenter, _ _ _ 185 

Rev. Ada C. Bowles, - - - - - 187 

Christmas Chimes, ----- 187 

Rev. Charles Noyes, - - - - - 1S8 

The Thought Club, - . - . 189 

The Temperance Grove Meeting, - - - - 190 

A Rainy Sunday, ----- 191 

Mrs. H. B. Shattuck, - - - - - 193 

Healing Power of Thought, - - - - 193 

The Magic Lantern of the Mind, - - - - 194 

Margaret Fuller, ----- 195 

Protap Chunder Mozoomdar, - - - - 198 

Carlo Borromeo, the Philanthropist, - - - 199 



CONTENTS. Vll 

Rev. S. C. Beach, _ . _ . _ 200 

Rev. James Huxtable, _ . _ . 203 

What Makes the Oak So Strong.? _ _ _ 204 

Theodore D. Weld on Wendell Phillips, - - 205 

Professor Hudson, _ . _ _ _ 206 

Ljdia Maria Child to C. S., - - - - 207 

Rev. Minot J. Savage, - - - - - 208 

Tribute to Elizabeth K. Churchill, . _ - 210 

An Evening with Whittier, _ _ _ _ 212 

Hon, Charles Coffin Carleton, _ _ _ 213 
Among the Churches, ----- 215 

Westminster Abbey, - _ - - 216 

The Thought Club, - - - - - 217 

Rev. James Huxtable, _ _ _ _ 218 

Rev. Warren H. Cudworth, - - - - 220 

Appreciated Truths, - - - - 221 

The Woman's Congress, - _ _ - 222 

A Parting Word, - - - - . - 224 




LINEvS TO THE MERRIMAC. 



Thou'rt rolling on as thou hast done 

For many a long, long year, 
Since first the Indian hunter lone 

Viewed thee without a fear. 

Thou'rt still the same, bright glowing stream 

That thou wert wont to flow, 
When here the hungry panther's scream 

Was heard long, long ago. 

Thy waters glide as noiselessly. 

Though man's relentless hand 
Has bid them roll less pi'oudly by, 

Nor swell from sand to sand. 

Free, pebbly bed and moss so dear 

Receives thy dewy kiss, 
While pensive hare-bell drops a tear 

At parting friend like this. 

With hasty leap thou passest them 

Nor makest much ado 
At graving on some solid beam, 

A message short for you. 



Wriuen while at School. 



10 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



A WHISPER WITH AUTUMN. 



Oh, woodbine and oak and maple! 

You're taking on gorgeous hues, 
While sunshine grows still more radiant 

And chiller the evening dews. 
But, brightening the distant hillside, 

The sumachs are holding a fete, 
To which are invited the berries 

Which ripen and harden so late. 

Rich Fruits of the beauteous prophecy 

Which filled all the blooms of May, 
Are loading the air with perfumes sweet, 

And brilliant and golden ray. 
For the Summer's garnered wealth, 

Perfected in ripened shape, 
Is glowing in apple and peach and plum, 

And the luscious, right royal grape. 

'Tis not dying you are, in that beautiful dress 

Of scarlet and purple and gold ! 
But dropping the needless to make secure 

The germ from the winter's cold ; 
For soon you will cover the rootlets o'er 

From the rain and the snow and the blast, 
And await the new life that is sure to come 

When the winter of rest is past. 

So, beautiful Autumn ! we love thee the more 

For the promise thy coming brings, 
That the loved and lost will yet be ours 

In the land where the spirit sings : 
And that nothing is lost the Father has giv'n 

To gladden our life here below ; 
But the ties which are severed and leaves which 
have fall'n, 

Will all help the spirit to grow. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. H 



COMPENSATIONS. 



FADING AND RIPENING. 



Do these Autumn days seem sad or dreary to you ? Think 
for a moment how kindly the great All Father is shedding 
down, through the opening vistas of the trees and woods, the 
precious warming and cheering sunshine. Every falling leaf 
is making room for greater inflowings of this joy-giver and 
health-producer. Your vision pent in by foliage, can now 
penetrate to broader ranges, and discover beauties hitherto un- 
explored. The rich foliage of the trees has hid the stern, 
simple grace and majesty of their trunks and limbs, and you 
can now study and admire their proportions. And these won- 
derful leaves in all their gorgeous beauty of decay ! What 
lesson do they teach us that is worthy of the learning.^ Is it 
not that there is a glorious beauty in ripening and even in de- 
cay when coming in the order of nature's laws ? That, lovely 
as are the seasons of spring and summer, none are more rich in 
beauty and fruitage than the times of the sere and falling leaf.'* 
That there is as truly a loveliness of decay as of youth or adol- 
escence ? To grow old beautifully, and gracefully, and fittingly, 
is then no mean accomplishment ; and to be in harmony with 
nature's correspondencies, there should be a beauty and rich- 
ness of character and life therein unsurpassed by any of her 
precedeing states. To ripen gloriously is worthy of toil and 
endeavor ; that, rich and full of love to God and man leaf-like, 
there may be no repining for the days that are past. 



12 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



LINES WRITTEN IN A NEEDLE BOOK 

FOR FREDEREKA BREMER, 

WHEN HERE. 



to little book ! your use perform, 
And though within your leaves there lie 
No treasures such as minds can form 
Of thoughts that soar on pinions bright, 
Or drink from fancy's glowing fount, — 



Yet sometimes in a quiet hour, 

A whisper drop in truth's free ear — 

And say when solemn thoughts have power, 

That she who help'd your leaves appear 

Is dedicate to good alone : — 



These hands no other mission own 
Than use in virtue's holy cause. 
This heart would gather for its own 
All who regard the blissful laws 
Of love to God, and love to man. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 13 



DIVINE EARNESTNESS. 



The Apostle Paul, in his stirring letter to the Phillippians, 
said " This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are 
behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before." 
The soon succeeding words " Brethren, be followers together 
of me," would imply that the strongest wish of this devoted 
servant of Christ was to have those who had been attracted to 
the truth by the inspiring zeal of his testimonies awake to their 
highest duty. 

To forget all things that ought to be forgotten. Their sins 
and errors had been confessed and repented of, as their first 
step in discipleship. There were many things in their past 
lives which it were better never to have learned, but which now 
must be forgotten; for all things were to become ""new." 
Having thus dropped all needless encumbrances, what was the 
next duty ? " Reaching forth" unto the better, higher and more 
spiritual ; " press toward the mark," etc. 

As runners for an earthly prize lay aside every weight and 
impediment, so must the winner of the heavenly state become 
inspired with a holy enthusiasm and a living: earnestness to 
win the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, or 
become like him. 

Viewed outwardly, there was little or no success in his life ; 
but what a glorious result was that when he could say " I have 
overcome the .world." When that natural organism through 
which he was manifested had become so pure a receptacle that 
" Satan could find nothing in it ;" that the pure unselfish doc- 
trines which he taught had found their exponent in his life. 



14 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

Certainly that life is most a benefaction which is most fruit- 
ful in good works, and has done the most to lighten the burden 
of misery which weighs so heavily on earth's groaning chil- 
dren. As a poet has so beautifully expressed : — 



" They whose great souls were great beyond compare, 
They whose high Prophet brows did ever shine, 
They who made earth most beautiful and fair, 
Drank not while here of pleasure's purple wine; 
But were content the cross and scorn to bear, 
Enduring all things in a calm sublime; 
And he who did the weightiest sorrow wear, 
With noblest heart bloomed into the Divine. 
Then let us never murmur nor complain 
When the night darkens and the icy rain 
Of wrong and hatred beats around our way. 
But joy that we " are counted worthy," so 
With, blessed martyrs toil to undergo. 
The hero labors while the children play." 



Not, we presume, that there should be no play, but that our 
souls should glow with so divine an earnestness that play would 
be impossible when the needs around required work, and that 
would speak its silent voice of reproof to our souls if we would 
allow ourselves to shirk the burdens of life. 

If a soul should become wrecked on the dark strands of 
despair through our indifference, will not some accusing angel 
of mercy lower us into some hell oi condemnation long enough 
to convince us that " inasmuch as we have done, or not done, 
it to one of the least, we have done, or not done, it to Him .?" 
Nothing but the daily justice and purity of our lives can make 
us winners of that richest prize, a sweet, subdued and self- 
sacrificing love for God, manifested in our love for each other, 
until the human temple from which this light streams forth 
becomes beautiful and glorious, even though it be worn with 
the furrows of age, or otherwise " marred in the hands of the 
potter." 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 15 



THE MOTHER HEART. 



WEET ones that now in vision bright appear, 
With smiles thj mother's saddened heart to cheer, 
Within my soul each word is treasured fast, 
Each look that dres't thee in that meeting past. 
My own "dear Fred, my darling, darling boy, 
How little know'st thou in thy childish joy 
The hopes and fears thy mother's felt for thee, 
The prayers that thine a guarded lot may be. 
And Ella! sweet one! with thj' thoughtful eye, 
How o'er thy absence doth my spirit sigh. 
Kind angels guard thee like a tender dove. 
While she who loves thee with undying love 
Pines at thy absence from her watchful care. 
And every thought of thee is full of prayer. 
And thou my darling Clara ! youngest born ; 
For whom I've wet my pillow night and morn, 
And prayed in anguish that my spirit rent; 
How oft in feeling o'er thy couch I've bent 
And wept and blest thee o'er and o'er again. 
Thy gentle form I'd shield from fear and pain — 
But Oh, I've gazed upon thee precious one ! 
Thank God I've prest thee to my heart each one ! 
I know but this — the sundered meet above; 
Though grief be theirs on earth in heaven there's love. 



Written after an enforced separation of three years, in which the father claimed 
the possession of all the children, and maintained it by the then law. 






16 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



THE NEW YEAR. 



A New Year ! Clean and fresh from the Creator's hand ! 
What shall we do with it? Keep it pure and clean and white? 
God grant we may ; and not mar its beauty with one dishonor- 
able act or thought, one selfish, low or unmanly deed, one base, 
trivial or inhuman pursuit. There is no time like a new year's 
dawn for the loftier resolve, the solemn pledge and the new 
life, to correspond with the new dawn. 

Let us resolve that all we can do to make life nobler, truer, 
and happier, we will do, that our homes shall be made more 
sweet and happy and cheerful, with more considerate love for 
all therein. That the beaming love of our hearts shall warm 
and cheer and hold in willing vassalage the hearts of the 
young around us. That home shall be the dearest and best 
place on earth. Let us keep it one long Christmas and New 
Year's time of happiness for the young, that they may never 
have to wander forth in search of joy, or come too soon on the 
temptations which abound. Above all let us keep their hearts 
so securely that they will always be drawn homeward with 
longing as to the one most precious spot. Let us set them an 
example of promptitude in the settlement of all arrearages, 
and become more noble and true, forgiving and wise, more 
just and discreet to old and to young, denying to self and 
patient to all. Thus may we answer the song the angels have 
sung of " Peace upon earth and good, will unto men." 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



THE DEW DROPS OF GRIEF FORM A RAINBOW 
IN EVERY TRUE HEART." 



Sad tears at our partings, and heart 

aching sorrows, 
When words are too feeble and tears 

all too poor 
To imagine at all, our grief as it 

flow^s : 
O tell me are ye the sweet dew 

drops so pure, 
Which the sunlight of love and of 

truth will make bright? 
And sparkling as rainbows which 
span the pure arch 
And form in the soul a bright halo of light? 
If such be your mission sad dew drops of grief. 
If without you no bright glowing rainbow can form. 
If the storm must precede the peace breathing calm, 
O welcome the dew drops, the rain, or the storm ! 
For sooner the tints of the rainbow appear, 
In joy and delight will the clouds sooner break. 
And brightened and washed with the dew drops of grief, 
Our souls the sweet tints of the rainbow will take. 




18 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



A GOOD TIME COMING. 



"■ Oh ! peerless dream of Brotherhood ! 

Thou art man's noblest heritage ; 
The perfect state, the final good 

That still delays from age to age." 

From Bible days and down through the ages, the ideal of 
man has pictured a perfect state of society ; a condition free 
from the sins and sufferings of vice and poverty ; and he has 
looked longingly and prayerfully toward such a blessed con- 
summation. How it was to be attained has been answered by 
as many voices as there have been systems or creeds. The 
Bible student once believed it would come of itself at the close 
of certain periods of time. The more acute reasoner who 
believed that what at first seemed miraculous, was produced 
by laws not heretofore understood — of cause and effect — 
came to believe that the work of the good and the pure are 
needful to the bringing in of the day of the Lord, and that the 
" good time coming'' will come when all work for it with a 
will, and when mankind, remembering that they are all broth- 
ers, alleviate all the suffering and misery they can. How the 
heart throbs at the recital of suffering or wrong toward a neigh- 
bor ! Surely we are members one of another, bound together 
by the ties of a common parentage. The news that our broth- 
ers and sisters in humanity are being swept from their homes 
by the raging floods, and left at the mercy of the elements, stirs 
our hearts to a sympath}^ which exclaims at once " What can 
I do ? " and we rouse ourselves from our comforts and gladly 
exclaim, " Oh, I can do something ! I can spare this garment, 
or this ; and how quickest can I send it.^ " But you find, ere 
you have time to execute your purpose, that the appeal for help 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 19 

has reached the ears and hearts of the monied power, and re- 
lief is furnished. The monied men are doing much, but each 
one may do something, for the flood is at our doors, and we 
must work or be overwhelmed ourselves in the destruction. 
All can help, but none more effectually than the young women 
who have an influence they little realize over their brothers and 
friends. Not by saying, " Oh, I like the smell of a good 
cigar ! " or, by doing as a lively young woman once did when 
on a sleighing party. The company stopped at a hotel, and 
one of the number was asked " what she would have? " The 
suddenness and novelty of the question amused her, for she had 
no thought of wanting anything to drink, and she replied, 
" Mint julep," or some name she had heard of. Her companion 
went into the barroom, but he brought her nothing of the kind, 
for he knew too well she would not touch it. But the thought- 
lessness of her reply showed her in after years how little she 
had realized the necessity of young women standing firm for 
temperance, if they would be of help to those whom they love, 
instead of enticements in dangerous ways. 



20 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



PARASITES. 



We wonder, sometimes, whether the admirers of the idea, 
that man is as a tree, while woman is best represented as a 
clinging vine, have sought for the wisdom as well as beauty of 
the arrangement. To any who have ever attempted to remove 
from a valuable and thrifty tree, a vine, which seemed bent on 
taking full possession, the experience must have been sugges- 
tive. Tendrils, which once were soft and pliable, have become 
like rings of steel, and in every direction, are girding the limbs 
with such tenacity, that as the tree grows, they almost cut into 
its marrow, and thus, by preventing the flow of its life juices, 
are hastening it on to certain destruction. 

Are they not parasites, or too near akin to them ? Mutually 
enfeebling each other, instead of blessing — while if the vine 
could have been, by favoring circumstances, provided with a 
suitable trellis, where it could have luxuriated in the sunshine 
and air — the natural life and stimulus of all God's animal and 
vegetable creation — rich and luscious fruits might have crowned 
both their lives. 

"Created upright" — by leaning, and thus losing the indi- 
viduality she should have retained, she has not only failed to 
develop her own powers, and those of her supporter, but 
dwarfed her own strength and womanhood, beyond the ability 
for present uprightness. She must have time to put on the 
solid growth, which comes of Wealthy, harmonious conditions, 
ere she rises to her true glory and usefulness. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 2] 



THE ANGELS WORD. 

AND THE ANGEL SAID, "O GREATLY BELOVED ! 

FEAR NOT, PEACE BE UNTO THEE, BE 

STRONG, YEA BE STRONG." 



Fear not, fear not, though trials press, 
And sorrows dark around you throng ; 
My peace I give, my peace to bless ; 
Be strong ! O yea I say — be strong ! 

What though the hosts of darkness try 
In wrath your conflict to prolong, 
Fear not, fear not, but bid them fly. 
Be strong ! O yea I say — be strong. 

Come then and launch the shoreless deep 
O sweetly sing the heavenly song. 
The angels time we now will keep 
Here's peace and love, be strong, be strong. 

Fear not beloved, fear ye not 

In love be like that holy throng 

As undefiled and free from spot. 

Here's peace and love, be strong, be strong. 



22 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



WE ARE A PART OF THE DIVINE POWER 
AGAINST EVIL." 



When this idea obtains a stronger hold upon the conscious- 
ness of the good people of the land, the " good time coming" 
will have nearly dawned. The hope and courage which it 
will inspire to work for the welfare of our fellows will be 
sufficient to carry us over all the discouragements and perplex- 
ities which so often make us feel, that, with all our efforts, evil 
is gaining ground. 

We believe that goodness and peace are to triumph, because 
they are of God and therefore indestructible, but that they can 
only do so through human co-operation with the Divine. We 
know we have no right to expect exemption from evil and its 
consequences, unless we are faithful in combating it and still 
more faithful in preventing it. 

The mother who would save her child from drunkenness, 
will not, if she is consistent, educate him to love the taste of 
wine and brandy by flavoring her dainty sauces with them, 
when she can so easily substitute something harmless. Though 
she may have been brought up to think that her mince pie 
must have a little brandy or wine in it to give it the desired 
flavor, still, for the love of her boy who so soon has to meet 
the perils of youth and manhood, she will bring him up with 
an unperverted taste, that will enjoy the pure, sweet blessings 
of Nature without their perversions. She will teach him that 
a fine manly self-denial will insure him the love of the good 
and pure, and most of all, a self-respect which will sustain him 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 23 

and make his life a joy and a blessing to all. The appetite 
which craves stimulants is too often the one, which not only 
inherits its predisposition, but has been fed and increased 
through childhood and youth. 

Let us then remember that we are all educators, whether by 
our words, our example, our taste, our opinions ; in short, our 
whole being exerts a power for good or ill which is limitless 
as the ocean wave. 

"The line of conduct chosen during the five years, from 
fifteen to twenty, will, in almost every instance, determine a 
youth's character for life. As he is then careful or careless, 
prudent or imprudent, industrious or indolent, truthful or dis- 
simulating, intelligent, temperate or dissolute, so will he be in 
after years ; and it needs no prophet to cast his horoscope or 
calculate his chances in life." 

( 



4 , ^^g^ % 



24 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. 




H saddest words that drop from hearts 
Whose lives have felt thy sting, 
Who weep beneath the peace disturbed 
Which this keen thought doth bring. 

" It might have been " a home of joj 
Of peace and happy love 

Had not the spoiler self-born gway 
And grieved the heavenlj^ dove. 

It might have been a home for aye, 

'^^^^-^^^^^^^M'-^-''"^ A solace from the ills of life, 



That haunt while in the form. 



Ah more, it might have been a I'oy, 
An inspiration to the soul 
Which looking for the joys on high 
Would have them earthward roll, — 



And bid the heavenlv kingdom come 

And will of God be done 
Upon the earth as in the sphere 

Where mortal race is run. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 25 



FOLLOW ME! 



Jesus I will follow thee, 
Thorny tho' the path may be. 
Should it lead to Calvary 
Thou'lt support and comfort me. 
Other refuge I have none — 
Other stay or succor none, 
Naught on e^rth to lean upon, 
But thy promise of " well done." 

In thy mercy I will trust. 
Though it lay me in the dust. 
Though it slay me — yet I must 
Have my union with the just. 
Father ! Mother ! thou wilt own 
Every plant thy care hath sown : 
Though I tread the press alone ; 
Thou through all the way hast gone. 

Thou hast mark'd it with thy tears, 
With thy blood and bitter fears ; 
Thou through all the weary years 
Sought the day that now appears ; 
Day of freedom and of peace. 
When all bonds and fetters cease, 
May its fullness yet increase 
To an all perfecting peace. 



26 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



THE WATERS WERE RISEN, WATERS TO SWIIVI IN. 



SKIEL 47-5. 



UT of the deep waters, my soul cries to Thee 
For the billows are beating and surging around, 
No beacon, nor light can my wearj eyes see, 
But all seem a wilderness vast and profound 
And wildly my soul cries — 

Oh save, or I sink I 



The Lord of the tempest who comes to my view. 
And kindly inspires me with courage and hope. 
Doth each tender promise and comfort renew 
And strengthens my heart with the billows to cope 
Till faintly my soul cries — 

He saves lest I sink ! 



Away from all props and the shore I must swim, 
And trust on the billows my life and my all ; 
Though beating so wildly they listen to Him, 
And bear me along on their rise and their fall — 
Till calmly my soul breathes — 

He saved lest I sink ! 
July i6th 1S64. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 27 



"FREE INDEED." 

*' Oh, Freedom, lovely in mine eyes, 

To thee I'm bound in duty! 
In thee is an eternal prize, 

Thy ways are ways of beauty. 
As fawns upon the mountain's height, 

Or as the eagles in their flight, 
To be in perfect liberty, 

My soul does long to be as free ! " 

Everything in nature, from the bird on the wing to the pearl 
in the depth of the sea, lives a life of freedom, choosing from 
among the surrounding elements those it needs to add to its 
development as part of the perfect w^ork of God ; and we see 
little to mar that perfection, save in those v^^hose simple habits 
of life have been modified by man, without attention to nature's 
laws of periods and rest, etc. etc. 

And can we believe that humanity — God's highest work — 
should be less free ? 

In the words of another, we believe that " There is no greater 
crime than to stand between a man and his development ; to 
take any law, or institution, and put it around him like a collar, 
and fasten it there, so that as he grows and enlarges he presses 
against it till he suffocates and dies." 

But we also read, that " whom the truth maketh free is free 
indeed," and have believed that such freedom was attainable, 
and a duty. Consecrated to the service of the eternal Good, 
we have sought deliverance from "the bondage of Sin" (not 
from its condemnation, for that was mercy's work to lead us to 
repentance), and have felt called to attain that " glorious liberty 
of the sons and daughters of God ; " libei'ty to become the 
Lord's free men and women, and arrive at the stature of man- 
hood and womanhood, which no state of subjection, or slavery, 
could possibly afford the conditions of attaining. 



28 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

For, not only was the soul to be cultured and disciplined, but 
the body, by living in obedience to God's laws was to become 
"every whit whole." 

When the prophet declared that '-'- all should be taught of 
God," and that his law should be written on their hearts and 
inward parts," he saw, in vision, the day in which we live, 
w^hen the heavens are opening, and natural, and spiritual, and 
celestial truths are shining on the mind with a force and beauty 
hitherto unknown. 

All new truths, however popular ultimately, have their 
periods of being heresy to those who so rigidly conserve the 
old, that they cannot, will not, or dare not, comprehend them. 
And all receivers and abettors of such ideas are, for the time 
heretics and infidels, until the age to which such unprogressive 
minds belong comes slowly up the hill of time. 

A late writer has said: " The world still awaits the great 
deliverance. And the needs press, always imperative, now im- 
portunate, and utterly resistless. The old hastens to decay ; 
the new is beating in throes. Never was there such a day as 
our eyes behold. Social re-organization is the question of the 
hour, but not superseding individual re-generation. The old 
order has well nigh come to the unbearable state. The com- 
petitive selfishness, the low aims, and the mean idolatries, that 
have long prevailed, have reduced us to the last stages of endur- 
ance. What throes in the civil world ! and these but faintly 
typical of the revolutions and transformations that are soon to 
be ; foreshadowings of which are now visiting saintly souls. Man 
shall know the joy of a full redemption, perfect enfranchise- 
ment, perfect doing, and perfect peace." 

Those whom God calls, he cheers with the clarion notes of 
freedo7n^ and they sing accordant strains. No bands can bind 
them ; for compulsory service is of no available use. And, after 
the soul learns to obey the laws of God in its being, and obedi- 
ence is its joy and delight, it comes into freedom as spontaneously 
as the eagle in its aerie, or "the fawn upon the mountain's top." 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 29 






COMFORTING PROMISES. 



■^N the furnace I am by thee ; 
I Guarding with a watchful eye, 
X That its heat may not destroy thee 
Only cleansfi and purify. 
Fondest loVe for thee I cherish 
Seekers of a heavenly prize 
Let the fallen nature perish ; 
While its flames about you rise. 

In the darksome lonely valley, 
Still beside thee I will walk ; 
In my arms of love I'll bear thee, 
Till thou'rt landed on the Rock ; 
Thou shalt know it is thy Saviour 
Thus doth lead thee on thy way ; 
With a love that's like no other. 
Holy, constant, pure as day. 



30 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



WORK. 

Jesus said, " I must work the woi'ks of Him that sent me, while it is 
day. The night cometh, when no man can work." 

We all know what it is to employ ourselves about something 
we call work. It may be something of use, or it may be very 
frivolous and unnecessary ; still, if it call out of us an earnest- 
ness of action, physical exercise for the body, and employment 
for the mind, it is better than inaction. For if we observe' 
nature faithfully we shall see that every thing works from man, 
whose pleasant work it was to till and dress the garden, to the 
minutest insect, or tiniest leaf upon the tree. 

The laborious toil which depresses by its long contiuance and 
ill-paid servitude, is still better than idleness and inertia ; the 
noisy blusterer better than the no worker. But how preferable 
the profound worker, who in silence brings forth grand results. 

As woman by self-denial and cultivation, rises above the 
plane of passional and sensual life, will not man, too, feel that 
this life of toil is not without its physiological use.^ This 
beautiful earth needs multitudes of agriculturists to keep and 
dress it, whose manliness would be better preserved than by 
crowding into the steaming cities, and entering upon pursuits 
calling for but little outlay of muscle, or of mind. The life- 
giving stimulus for work, derived from the fresh breezes of 
heaven and nature's charms, is immeasurable. The Apostle 
said, "Work out your own salvation,'' or deliverance from any 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 31 

evil that oppresses or afflicts, particularly any sinful habit. 
Have we a temper which w^ould compel the tongue to utter 
words which our reason would condemn ? We have work to 
do, that we say or do nothing we would not have another say 
or do to us. Have we moodiness and moroseness in our natural 
temperament? We have, if possible, harder work to do, to be- 
come the genial, kind and loving beings the followers of Christ 
should be ; diffusers of that love which should control each 
thought and deed. 

Are we prone to be trivial and giddy — thoughtless and indif- 
ferent in our spiritual nature — its sweet and blessed resources 
yet unawakened? Then let us heed the Apostle's word and 
commence on a life of higher earnestness, 

" The temple of God i$^ holy which temple are ye." Let us 
realize, then, that the time for "• the cleansing of the sanctuary " 
has come to us, and that all that is not hallowed and of use, in 
purifying and refining the temple, should be driven out. We 
find there is work in this ; and to have it thoroughly furnished, 
fit for the Holy Spirit to inhabit, is work worthy of an angel's 
love and zeal. As the poet has so fitly said — 

" Let us do our work all well, 

Both the unseen and the seen, 
Make the house where Gods should dwell 
Beautiful and fair and clean." 

Cheerfully, then let us " work with our might," feeling that 
by so doing we are putting ourselves in harmony with the 
Creator and His works, and becoming resurrected into the 
angelic life of pure and heavenly love and unselfish uses. 

Each and all of us, if we do truly follow Christ, will find our 
"wilderness of temptation," our garden of Gethsemane," as well 
as our " mount of Transfiguration. And if we shrink not from 
them, nor deny the Christ, who is seeking by every tender and 
loving appeal, to win and hold us to the service of love and 
truth, great will be our reward. We may find the cross, some- 



32 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

times, heavy and burdensome, and the yoke galling; but the 
quiet rest of spirit we experience, after a temptation overcome, 
or a decisive " Get thee behind me Satan," will more than 
compensate for all the pain. 

'• These are they who have come up out of great tribulation 
and have washed their robes (not without labor) in the life of the 
Lamb " — b}^ no vicarious atonement ; for as the Scriptures say, 
" Obedience is better than sacrifice." " The blood is the life," 
and they have lived his life, and followed the Lamb whitherso- 
ever he goeth," or has led. Their confession and repentance 
have "cleansed their robes" so that they have "no fearful 
looking forward " to the future ; but a quiet trust that the same 
loving heart which said "she hath done a good work" will 
receive them into his peaceful habitations in the spirit land, 
or call them to still more earnest work in his spiritual 
vineyard. 

For every faithful soul there awaits the solemn conscious- 
ness which prompted the words of Jesus, " I have finished the 
work thou gavest me to do," and this will be the consolation 
w^henever brought before the bar of enlightened conscience, or 
in receiving the verdict of unchangeable truth and right. 

That wise writer Ecclesiasticus said, " Hate not laborious 
work, neither husbandry, which the Most High hath ordained." 
So far from laborious work being degrading, we believe it to 
be one of the means of man's regeneration. And that the meas- 
ure of his happiness and honor will ere long be — not how much 
wealth he has amassed, nor from whom descended ; but, how 
useful is he to his fellows? How many anguished souls has 
he cheered and comforted? How many needy bodies fed and 
clothed? And he will be considered God's truest nobleman 
who does most of such work, and sets an example of diligent 
hand labor. 

Mothers, whose active little ones surround you, teach them 
to work, and let them help you, tho' their noisy, boisterous 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



33 



spirits tire instead of helping. And when play time comes, 
snatch the moments for rest. Let them learn to work skillfully 
and well, when young, and they will find something to occupy 
hand and brain as they grow older ; and not, through very dis- 
gust of life, find a suicide's grave. Teach them to work that 
they may be self-sustaining and not obliged to wait for some 
opportunity to bring to them position and influence unearned. 
There will be work to do while there remain any poor souls 
grovelling in the mire of sensuality, or unblest by the gospel 
of peace through self-denial. Some Christ will still be needed 
" to preach to the spirits in the prisons" of darkness, discour- 
agement and death, a gospel of love and uplifting; and an 
aptitude gained in this life for benevolent, self-denying labor, 
must surely add to the spirit's uses, and consequent blessedness. 




34 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE CON- 
CERNING THEE." 



KEEP her. Oh, our heavenly Father 
In the hollow of thy hand. 
Shield her, Oh our precious mother 
With thy shining angel band. 

In the darkness be thou near her 
To sustain and guide from harm. 
In all weariness and weakness 
May she feel thy strength'ning arm. 

In the valley may thy presence 
Round about be sweetly felt ; 
On the mountain heavenly breezes 
Unto her be kindly dealt. 

Ripening for that glorious harvest 
With the good and pure above, 
May life's crosses and its burdens 
Gain a sweet reward of love. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 35 



THY KINGDOM COME THY WILL BE DONE ON 
EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN." 



All Christendom (as it is called) is daily or continually repeat- 
ing this prayer of its Leader. How sincerely let us see. In 
that condition which we have imagined as the kingdom of 
heaven, we read that there will be no sickness nor pain, conse- 
quently there can be no mal-formed nor diseased inheritance ; 
'* no sorrow nor crying, but all tears wiped away," therefore 
none of the causes which produce the unhappiness and misery 
of earth through violation of the laws of nature can be expected. 
No oppression of the weak by the strong, nor of the poor by 
the rich, but right doing, justice, each reaping the fruit of their 
own labors ; none sinning against heavenly conditions as the 
prodigal did when he was a consumer and waster of natures 
resources and no longer a producer. " Every man sitting under 
his own vine and fig tree," thereby having no necessity nor 
temptation to trespass upon nor appropriate his neighbors 
resources. 

" I hate robbery for burnt offering" saith the Lord, therefore 
the sacrifices of that condition cannot be costly buildings erected 
with the wages of iniquity, the unrequited toil of those who 
having plowed, reap not ; nor the dues of the widow and father- 
less. "Nothing to hurt nor destroy in all God's holy moun- 
tain," therefore no need of police nor prison. " Thy officers 
will be peace, and thy exactors righteousness ; " therefore, the 
peaceful will not be required to resist evil with carnal weap- 
ons, and standing armies, and perjured courts will be unknown. 
" Great will be the peace of my people, and they shall Jong 
enjoy the work of their hands." 



36 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



GREAT PEACE HAVE THEY WHO LOVE THY 

LAW. 




HOLY peace a calm divine 
Will make that soul rejoice 

Which listening seeks and truly prays 
To hear the calm, still voice. 

Oh welcome then thou angel guest 
Svs^eet messenger of peace, 

And bind our hearts in sweet accord 
With love that cannot cease. 

The storm and tempest cannot paint 

The greatness of our God 
One half as truly as that power 

Which soothes us 'neath his rod. 
The lamb-like mien of Christ be ours. 

So gentle, full of love, 
And may his spirit on us leave 

The imasfe of the dove. 



His fire our souls have only felt 

And his baptism too. 
Beneath the scourging rod we've knelt 

With sorrows not a few ; 
Our call we've had like Him to walk 

By Jordan's stormy tide ; 
Then may the spirit of the dove 

Within our souls abide. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 37 



•IF I BE LIFTED UP I WILL DRAW ALL MEN 
UNTO ME."— JESUS. 



To our spiritual understanding, there are three clear infer- 
ential statements in this remarkable and peculiar expression : 

Firstly, That there was a time when Jesus was not lifted up, 
or the thoroughly redeemed man he afterward became, else 
why the "/^I be lifted up?" 

Secondly, That by "lifting up" he meant something im- 
measurably more significant than the manner by which his 
spirit was to be released from the clay it was sojourning in. 

Thirdly, The immense magnetic power derived from a life 
lifted up above the ordinary conditions of materiality, and 
which induced him to believe, with the eye of faith, that he 
would eventually "draw all men unto him." 

That he was tempted on all points like as we are" we believe, 
though the high Jewish discipline he had been subjected to 
had kept him like Paul, "blameless concerning the law," still 
we can scarcely find any who have been more severely and 
continuously tempted. 

The apostle says a man "is tempted when he is drawn aside 
by his own lust and enticed." But as Jesus came ofl^conqueror, 
he knows how to feel for, and "succor those who are tempted, 
and with the temptation make a way for their escape." 

The only Archimedian lever which can move the world of 
mankind, spiritually, and lift them up to the heights where 
they too may win souls to right doing is the cross of self-denial 
Jesus practiced and taught, and which yields by destroying 
self-love, disinterested love to God and man. 



38 CLOVER BLOSSOMS, 



TRUST. 



1 



N the arms of my Father 

As a child trustingly I'll lie, 
For I know He careth for me : 
He will listen to my cr}^ 



He is like a tender mother, 
In His gentle, watchful love ; 

He is nearer than a brother. 
While He bears my soul above. 

When the storm clouds darkly gather, 
And the thunder mutters deep, 

Then I'll think how great a Father 
Condescends to guard my sleep. 

And I'll nestle closer to Him, 

While the forked lightnings gleam, 

And serenely lean upon Him, 
While I watch their fitful beam. 

He'll not leave me sorrowing, 

For He stoops to such as I : 
He'll not cast me from Him mourning. 

For He hears the raven's cry. 

And unless his love permits it, 
Not a harm can come to me ; 

So, why should I not trust him 
When He such a friend can be? 

Written after seeing a little child who had a fear of thunder and lightning. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 39 



^CONSIDER THE LILIES." 



Slumbering in restful quiet — under the pure white mantle 
of snow — what miracles of wonder are reposing! Miracles, 
scarce less wonderful than that of creation, await only the 
genial, magnetic rays of the sun, to astonish us with their 
beauty. First will come the violets, and then, the crocuses 
and tulips, from their wonderful bulbs. 

Every one has its own marked characteristic individuality — 
its own perfect life — to spring forth, to bud, to open and ex- 
hale its little wealth of bloom and fragrance, and then retire. 
So of all Nature's creations, in their simple state, be they bird or 
beast. They know their time, fulfill their life of freedom, and 
then retire. And does it seem probable that the wise Creator 
ever intended that his last and crowning work of completeness 
should have less of the spirit of spontaneity than inferior 
things.^ 

Must she, because time was when her charm was in her de- 
pendence, ever be doomed to rob herself of the health and 
stamina — which her cares — her duties — so urgently demand 
of her ? 

To every mortal the message comes: ''''Each Soul to its 
Maker''' No sponsor can answer for another, before "the 
great white throne," for "the deeds done in the body," — each 
one must account for himself or herself. 

To live out our ideal of perfected manhood or womanhood, 
physically, mentally and spiritually, is the call of God to our 
souls. If indifferent, and supine, on us will come the results 
— condemnation — for misimproved talents, and unfullfilled 
uses ; for "I have called you to freedom," and have given you 
every needed good that you might "grow as the lily" and 
obtain all the possibilities of life and being. 



40 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



A TRUE SKETCH. 




GENTLE child with love lit'eyes 

Her arms around me threw ; 
And trustingly she murmured forth 
" Oh teacher, I will comfort you." 

She heard the sigh which more a prayer, 

Unbidden sprang to life, 
But little knew the troubled thoughts 

Which in my heart were rife : 



But felt that 'twas for parted ones 
That prayerful sigh had birth, 

Dear children who at evening fall 
Might share not in our mirth. 

Sweet child, though orphaned as she was, 

She mourned not at her lot, 
For love supplied her ever}^ need 

And sorrow she had not. 

And now her little heart sprung forth 

Like tender yearning dove 
To help me bear for sundered ones 

My untold w^eight of love. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 41 



FRUITFULNESS IN THE DIVINE LIFE. 

" I will that ye bear much fruit." 



To the citizen of the world nothing is more cheering than to 
witness the evidence of growth around him ; if in the city, the 
improvement and stabilit}'- of building ; the good order, in- 
dustry and intelligence of community. If a dweller in the open 
land, his interest is different, but none the less hearty, in the im- 
provement of his surroundings. The oak tree, which his own 
hands planted in boyhood, has grown to be a shade and a 
solace from the mid-day heat, and the vine which, long years 
after, he guarded and trained, rewards him yearly with its 
ripened treasures of fruit. 

Nature has few inactive seasons ; but one winter for a whole 
scries of blossoming, fruitage and harvest. What then of that 
most wonderful of all the creations of God } Are his periods 
of growth from infancy and on through adolescence to old age 
the ultirriatum .? Or, do they comprehend the whole glory and 
majesty of humanity.^ Verily we believe not. 

There is a germ of infinite possibilities in each mortal tene- 
ment, which may grow and develope into an angel, or dwarf 
and become debased into the opposite ; a germ which may 
grow into a creation of beauty and healing, or sink into a de- 
pendency and a curse. 

As that soul-germ is tended, protected and nurtured, so will 
be its growth ; till taking on the conditions of maturity, these 
words of Jesus speak with power to its consciousness — "I 
will that ye bear much fruit." 



42 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

But what is the fruit that such as are called of God can bear? 
The same as the natural man, whose enjoyments and pursuits 
are all "of the earth, earthy?" The same as the natural in- 
stincts of man, unilluminated by the self-denying gospel of 
Christ bring forth, in those who live in the element of world- 
liness ? Most truly we believe not. 

A wiser than the generality of mankind has said that the off- 
spring of the spiritually called, are the holy and elevated 
thoughts, words and deeds which they produce, or transmit, 
and which bless the world with their elevating tendencies. 

This is the fruit that will yield, instead of uncertainty, blight 
and mildew, postive results of goodness and all the Christian 
graces. The fruit may be slower in developing than that of 
any natural crop: but. Oh! so sure; for is it not said "The 
sower to the flesh shall of that reap corruption, but he that 
soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting?" 
The results will be a progressive elevation into every thing 
that is just and pure and lovely in the one case, while the slave 
of his passions will be sinking lower and lower in subjection 
to them, until " the evil days will come when he will have no 
pleasure," and no earthly offspring, or riches, or honor, will 
be able to cneer the soul entering on the untried spirit 
condition, for which the other has become so well fitted. 

The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, etc., and though 
the cross w^hich Jesus bore, arouses in us conditions opposed 
to those graces, and feels at times heavy, and the yoke burden- 
some, still will come the time, when the blessed fruition will 
be obtained and the victory complete. 

The battle must be fought by each one for him or herself: 
in one sense single-handed and alone, each soul to its maker; 
and in another, as in the company of the just and redeemed of 
all ages ; an innumerable company of the just made perfect. 
A sympathy which is not of God only weakens and enervates 
the struggling soul which needs the tonic, bracing air of truth 
and honest dealing. 



CLOV^ER BLOSSOMS. 43 

Watered by the praj^ers and tears of the faithful, and the 
spirit of contrition and godly sorrow ; strengthened by the rays 
of truth and love from the Sun of righteousness ; dug about 
and enriched by the faithful labors of the many consecrated ; 
toughened by the biting winds of adversity and kindly criticism, 
how sweetly comes echoing down the many years from the 
great Husbandman : " Trees of my own planting I will that 
ye bear much fruit." Fruits of love and consecration ; the 
lovely fruits of peace and meekness, which will make you 
beautiful in the eyes of angels and the good ; and which will 
enable you to become trees of healing and life for the sin-sick 
souls of earth — "Life-giving nourishment for souls an-hun- 
gered." 

" 1 will that ye bear much fruit : " 

For the barren and leafless, we know 
Give grief to the husbandman's heart. 

Then hasten, in spirit to grow. 
The dew and the sunlight receive, 

The false and the hollow shake off; 
And true to thy uses perceive — ■ ' 

Christ's kingdom is not afar oif. 

If we would grow, we must be faithful in obeying our con- 
victions ; faithful in our temporal avocations and in all the 
duties of life : consecrated in all our faculties to the good of 
the body of Christ, in all its uses and adornings ; withholding 
no gift which has been entrusted to our care, to be used as by 
faithful stewards for the interest, enjoyment and edification of 
the church and our fellows. 

Forgetfulness of self, animated with pure benevolence, will 
make us willing servants of the spheres, in all that is elevating 
and refining ; will make us more like Him who knew no will 
but the will of the Infinite, and who went about doing good. 

We shall learn to pass and repass one another as the angels, 
and would as soon harm ourselves as injure, by thought, word 
or deed, the feelings of another. Knowing that love and union 



44 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

and joy and peace are heaven, we shall not thoughtlessly mar 
that heaven by anything unfeeling or unkind, but shall speak 
and act so kindly and lovingly, that never a saddened heart or 
tear-filled eye shall witness against us. 

In this condition of harmony and love, the angels who are 
sent to minister to the heirs of salvation could reach us, and 
by their help and influence we can be so swallowed up in 
heavenly joy and illumination, that the sorrows and trials of 
life would disappear, and fancied joys be no temptation. The 
sphere of love, blessing and peace would be so strong and 
sustaining, that " great would become the peace of Jerusa- 
lem," and lookers on would be constrained to exclaim : " Be- 
hold how these brethren do love one another ! " and thus 
would be spread our Zion's fair fame. 




CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 45 



NO HEAVEN ALONE. 

" As the realms of holy wisdom are more and more comprehended, the broader be- 
cometh the expanse of heaven." 

Could I enjoy a heaven alone.'' 

And know alas my brother man 

Was waiting at the outer gate 

To see which way the victory ran ? 

Think you its joy would reach my heart 

Or penetrate my deepest soul 

If grouping in the dark profound 

I left him to the fiends control ! 

If looking for the bread of life 
I gave him in its place a stone, 
And turned to go my heavenward way 
In deep complacency alone? 
Not thus the man of sorrows taught 
When moved with holy tenderness 
" Go preach my gospel, freely give 
For freely ye've of me received." 

" Go cast out devils, raise the dead 
And saviours be to fallen man : 
A bruised reed I will not break 
Nor quench the truth by me began. 
But love your enemies, I say, 
And bless the ones who seek to curse : 
Do good to them that mock, and pray 
For those who're even more perverse. 

" For on the evil and the good 

My sun of life doth freely shine, 

And rain upon the unjust comes 

As freely as on those who're mine. 
" And if ye love them which love you 

What great reward of gain have ye? 
" For publicans can do the same 

Nor yet begin to follow me. 



46 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

'■' And if j'our brethren je salute 
Alone, what do ye more than they 
Who love their neighbor but can hate 
And persecute their enemy ? 
But be ye like the One above 
His children then you'll ever be 
And those who for his image seek 
The crucified in such will." 



THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH, 



As the Trinitarian God of the past, and the masculine 
church of the present, have neither been fruitful of the power 
of salvation, nor grace to redeem humanity from degradation, 
so will all religions, all systems, and all creeds prove them- 
selves inadequate to the wants of the world, which fail to 
recognize and be governed by the living principle of duality. 

As natural things are but types of spiritual, and the more 
real is comprehended within the crust of the outer, so must 
the significant fact, underlying this so long negatived truth, 
be admitted, if we would see the advancement and spread of 
Christ's kingdom. 

Can the paternal influence alone beget and bring forth chil- 
dren in the natural order,? Neither can it in the spiritual. 

What is home without a mother^ either in the natural or 
the spiritual household.? And, when the true heirs are pro- 
duced, and " the sons and daughters of God without rebuke," 
they will come of a parentage balanced as that which said in 
the beginning, "Let us make man in ou7' image, after c 2^ r 
likeness ; — male and female created he them." 

A simple, reasonable theological basis on which to rest the 
principles which are to redeem us from the thraldom of the 
earth-plane, and inspire us with the necessary fortitude and 
self-renunciation, to subordinate the natural to the spiritual, 
and thus be truly "born again," are essentials to the develop- 
ment and progress of the soul. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 47 

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? 

THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF." 



Who is my neighbor.^ Not the one 

Who best may please my selfish heart ; 
Nor yet the wise and good alone 

Who in my love and joy bear part. 
Perchance the poor, the low, or vile 

My stejos may pass and kindness need ; 
Such is my neighbor as myself to love, 

The naked clothe, the hungry feed. 

If I my neighbor as myself do love, 

I'll treat him as I w^ould that he. 
Our places changed, would do by me. 

As careful, tender, just, and free ; 
I'd love to feel his kindness flow 

In patient words and gentle deeds 
When burdened I would feel the glow 

From heavenly charity proceeds. 



THE BIGOT. 



The man who is a bigot robs himself of the joy which 
comes from the exchange of thought, and the blessedness of 
appropriating new truth, — than which nothing can be more 
strengthening, — and lives on the husks and cobs of the past. 
This, of itself, is enough to account for the leanness and nar- 
rowness of his spiritual proportions, for the spirit no less than 
the body grows by what it feeds upon. 



48 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



CAST THY BURDEN ON THE LORD. 



Come ye weary, heavy laden ! 

Seeking for the living word, 
Come with all your sin and sorrow, 

Cast your burden on the Lord. 
Come with all your earth-wounds bleeding 

From the keen two-edged sword. 
Come with every heart-string severed, 

Cast your burden on the Lord. 

In his Spirit you will find him. 

As a risen Saviour near, 
As the weeping Mary's seeking 

Heard his words of kindly cheer ; 
So you'll find your sorrows healing 

In the ever brooding love. 
Where the comforter is resting 

In the spirit of the dove. 

When the tongues of wrath assail you 

With their malice and their hate, 
When perplexities surround you. 

And their power you would abate. 
Render not reproach for railing. 

Seek the Lord where he is found, 
And sustain'd you will rejoice 

You " cast your burden on the Lord." 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 49 



"BLESSED ARE THEY THAT DO HIS COM- 
MANDMENTS THAT THEY MAY HAVE 
RIGHT TO THE TREE OF LIFE." 

John while "in the Spirit" on Patmos. 



" Blessed, or happy and spiritually prospered, are those 
who keep the commandments of Jesus," not merely the code 
of laws, giv^en to the early Law-giver, but the " new com- 
mandment," which surpasses them all in that it comprehends 
the whole, with greater reaches of love, unity and unselfish- 
ness. 

" The law was a school-master to bring them to Christ ;" and 
by obeying the former they gained the power to fulfill the still 
higher requirements of the latter. By " denying self," the}^ 
learn to love the neighbor so well that they can " sing joyfully 
the song of Moses," " with the Spirit and the understanding," 
and the still sweeter song of the Lamb, or the Christ-spirit. 

They are to " have right to the tree of life," because 
*' they are worthy," as the revelator says of those "who 
enter into the Holy City through the gates " of repentance, 
justice, consecration and purity. 

But what is this tree of life, to which they have right, which 
" bears twelve kinds of fruit? " Is it not something of which 
they may partake continually, as there is a constant succession 
of fruits, which will aflx)rd them cheer, strength, all needful 
sustentation, and keep them in life and vigor? It is a tree of 
life, not of death. So much so, that those who have not, by 
obedience to these physical and spiritual laws, gained a right 
to the fruit, may still find benefit and healing, even from its 



50 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



" leaves," or the less concentrated nutriment of the fruit. If 
they cannot, by obedience to the whole law, become " every 
whit whole," body and spirit, they may find a healing prin- 
ciple, even in the leaves, or scattering truths, eliminated by 
the growth of these germ principles. 




THE VINTAGE. 



" My well beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill."— Isaiah v. i. 



IS the time of the vintage and laden to fill 
The harvesters come from the vineyard and hill ; 
They bear in their arms the rich fruits of the 

soil. 
And sweetly are paid for their labor and toil. 



With rich grapes of Eschol these vie in their 
size. 

Each cluster in richness and bloom a fair prize. 
The fine Early Amber so luscious and sweet. 
The Concord and Sage from their trellises meet, 

And gently repose in their beauty and bloom 
With the Black Cluster, rich in hue and perfume. 
The Deleware, tiny, transparent and sweet. 
And fit for the fairies in smiles will you greet. 

The Hartford Prolific in regal hues shine, 
Less frail than their neighbor, the fair Muscadine, 
All rich in their sweetness and delicate change, 
The Orient vineyards you care not to range ; 

But fancy the vision is being fulfilled 
When each shall the walls of Jerusalem build 
"• And they shall plant vineyards and eat of the fruit, 
And peace, love and truth be their constant pursuit." 

Oct. 1862. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 51 



SOME REASONS WHY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE 
PART IN GOVERNMENT. 



Are those who vauntingly call this the age of love ready 
to admit and carry out the principle? The love element is 
called more particularly the feminine, while the element of 
power and force is considered the masculine. Not that love 
cannot, in a measure, pervade and soften the more positive 
element of power, but a greater manifestation of the love 
and wisdom element is the requisition of this more enlight- 
ened age. Obedience can no longer be a blind, unconditional 
submission to force, but the command must be seen to be 
wise, aud breathed forth in love, else it is powerless. 

Does tlie frail being who has sinned through the excess and 
misapplication of this very love-nature which she has been 
taught to believe is her appropriate life, and who has fallen 
from the neglect of the culture of wisdom, — -does she, when 
the laws of the land take her in custody as an offender, find 
herself examined and judged by a jury of her peers, by those 
who can understand and appreciate her state, with its trials 
and temptations.'* Could a jury of pure-minded and virtuous 
women understand the extenuating circumstances in the case 
of the man who, through avarice and ambition, has finally 
degraded himself through all degrees of sin? Could they, 
with their less acquisitive nature, weigh the merits of such a 
case, feel for him as a man, and understand the temptations 
to which he, as a man, has been exposed? If not, then surely 
the masculine clement cannot any better, if as well, compre- 



52 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

hend and judge of the guilt of the sinning female. It cannot 
by experience understand the confiding and devoted nature of 
her affections. It knows not the extent and strength of her 
love-nature. It has never felt the state of the friendless female 
orphan, who, in the scarcity of remunerative labor, has almost 
\)QQn forced to a life of infamy. It knows but seldom of that 
strength of the parental nature which will lead it to beg, or 
lie, or steal, for the relief of its famishing ones. It knows not, 
because its love-nature has not been cultivated to the exclusion 
of other discipline. Of these and similar temptations it can- 
not judge, for they are not in its nature ; and never having 
had it so unduly cultivated, it cannot understand her trials and 
experience. 

The w^oman appears, then, not before a tribunal of her 
peers, but before the single element of power and force ; 
while the love and wisdom element which alone can compre- 
hend her is excluded, save in the exceptional cases where 
there is a man occasionally possessed strongly of the love- 
nature. 

In view, then, of this difference of organization and educa- 
tion, can justice reign, and right prevail, until these wrongs 
are righted, — until the feminine element is allowed its place 
by the side of the masculine, in the different relations of secu- 
lar and religious government.? 

Can that be called a republican government, whose laws 
are made and whose judgments are executed without the con- 
sent of more than half of the governed.? Is it worthy of 
being called a representative government, when not half of 
its subjects are represented? Or can it be called -a free gov- 
ernment, when laws are made and enforced by one party, who, 
from their very nature, and the construction of mind, cannot 
adapt and form just laws for the other half, and who, ofttimes, 
from their antagonistic situation and relations, cannot but be 
swayed from the strict line of justice, while self-interest is so 
dominant in the human breast.? 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 53, 

Or, to turn to the religious side, can that be the rehgldn 
which has '• neither male nor female, bond nor free, but all 
one in Christ," which arraigns the female member before 
a tribunal of her brothers, to the exclusion of mothers and 
sisters? Does not the Gospel require the presence of the love 
and wisdom element in its deliberations? 

If, as she has so often been told, she is a step nearer heaven 
in her organization, and more spiritual in her tendencies, is 
she not as fitting a medium for the transmission of heavenly 
truths and angelic loves? 

Granting thiat woman is surrounded by more favorable con- 
ditions for the cultivation of the religious element, and that 
her cares, sorrows, and trials but deepen and strengthen her 
religious need, do not these very facts prove that she is but the 
better fitted for the reception of spiritual light? And, if re- 
ceptive, why should she not be communicative? Must her 
generous impulses be checked, because Paul has said," I suf- 
fer not a woman to teach or usurp authority over a man ? " 
There are those who call the theatre a school of morality. If 
a school, who are its teachers, if not its actors? and does the 
polite and refined audience, which hangs enchanted on the 
glowing language and personations of its idolized "star," feel 
that its passages of morality or representations of the loveli- 
ness of virtue are any the less beautiful, true, and significant, 
because coming from woman's lips? Is she usurping authority 
over her male auditors ? Who thinks to call her unwomanly 
or immodest, though she should appear in a dress and manner 
as far as possible removed from what Paul recommends? 

Again, it has been said by those who would designate wo- 
man's appropriate work, that the care and education of child- 
ren and youth is her peculiar province ; and by many she is 
considered the more successful and communicative teacher, 
and it is supposed that her readiness and intuitiveness pecu- 
liarily fit her for this calling. Be it so ; but does not this argue 



54 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

the propriety of her being found in some spheres from which 
public sentiment at present excludes her? 

Not that woman is not caressed and idolized, for perhaps, 
when she comes into an equal race, she will receive less of 
flattery and chivalrous notice ; but now the feeling prevails 
that she is what she is by permission of man ; that her rights 
and privileges, and claims upon respect, are not God-given 
and her own, but granted by the indulgence of man. This 
it is that chafes and ofttimes agonizes her sensitive and aspir- 
ing spirit. 

She would cultivate her God-given faculties and suscepti- 
bilities, not by courtesy from her brother, but because every 
faculty of mind should be disciplined to its highest use, and 
because, as part of the human family, this is her duty, and 
consequently her right. She finds herself controlled, and 
sometimes most painfully harassed and impeded, by laws 
which she can have no hand in forming and supporting, save 
as her earnings and property must be taxed for their support, 
while they recognize her but in the same budget with the child 
and the idiot. Although she may have mind, cultivation and 
worth, the law ties her hand and shuts her mouth, while the 
ignorant, and scarce more than animal being, if he have but 
the smallest portion of manhood, may deposit his vote, and 
thus help to form laws which shall cramp and control her in 
her noble and benevolent womanhood. 

Tend her never so carefully and protectingly as may her 
guardians in the law, religion, or social life, still, if she be- 
comes an offender against any of them, no father, husband, nor 
brother can appear there as her representative, and suffer for 
her; but in her dependence she is recognized as a criminal, 
and the penalties of the law fall upon her as severely as they 
do upon her brother man, even though she have entered that 
state where her being is "merged in that of a husband." 
She can thus come into an equality as a criminal, but not as 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 55 

a free bein^ possessed of the rights and privileges of human 
nature. So, also, in religion ; if woman has a soul, (and this 
seems an admitted fact in Christendom,) the inspired Word 
says to her, as well as to her brother man, " Be ye perfect, 
even as I am perfect." And if " Noah, Daniel, and Job 
can but save their own souls by their obedience," then 
woman has her "own salvation to work out" for herself. 
This is a work in which a father, husband, or brother cannot 
become sponsor, but she must stand or fall for herself. "Every 
soul to its Maker." 

The eloquent Apostle wrote of his female converts who were 
just emerging from Paganism and polygamy, "Let your 
women keep silence in the churches, and if they will learn 
anything, let them ask their husbands at home." But this was 
to the Corinthian women, and others like them, for he says, 
" I write as unto carnal," and he proves this by the nature of 
much of his instruction. He says, " Let not a widow be taken 
into the number under threescore years old," etc. ; but Paul 
would surely not make such a requirement in this enlightened 
age. It is evident that he was endeavoring to lead them out 
of the sensualities of heathenism, if not into a Christian, yet 
into a decent and orderly life, and that his instructions were 
suited to the nature and attainments of his hearers. But if the 
same Apostle could deliver his message to the Christian and 
enlightened women of the ninteenth century, would he not say 
of them, as he said of Phebe, Mary, and others, " Greet my 
helpers in the Lord, for whom not only I give thanks, but also 
all the churches of the Gentiles".? Would he not say, " Im- 
prove the gift that is in thee, do good, be rich in good works, 
ready to distribute, willing to communicate." 

But woman is down, down where she or multitudes of her ' 
sex cannot see what is required of her as a creation of God, 
and a being of boundless progression. She knows not but 
that in the affectional element and the calls of maternity she is 



5g CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

fulfilling her highest and whole duty. Such being the case, 
the noble and exalted of the other sex show their nobility and 
their manliness when they recognize her, with all her trapp- 
ings of vanity, servility, and weakness, as sisters, created for 
the same progression and goodness, and consequently needing 
the same facilities, helps, and impetuses to develop their being, 
and who feel for them as being bound for the same kingdom 
of heaven within^ but who can never find it, while a vain, 
pleasure-seeking, and admiration-loving spirit leads them to 
find their happiness in a frivolous life, dependent upon outward 
surroundings. Such feel that her spirit, though it should be- 
come awakened and active for good, will present no ungrate- 
ful rivalry to their own, but only furnish an additional incen- 
tive to true greatness ; for the two natures are enough unlike 
still to preserve their marked characteristics, although they 
both be carried out to their ultimiates. 

The two will but constitute the more perfect one, for " the 
man is not without the woman in the Lord," nor the woman 
without the man. Leave out either part, or cramp and cir- 
cumscribe it, and you have but half of God and half of human- 
ity. "Man was created in the image of God, male and female." 
If, then, man is male and female in the image or representation 
of God, the man who arrogates to himself a position above 
woman, and considers her as a being created for his own 
pleasure and use, is disparaging the half of his own manhood, 
and is in a position where neither reason nor revelation can 
sustain him. 

Wisdom thus speaks of herself in Proverbs viii. 30 : " When 
the Lord appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was 
by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily his de- 
light, rejoicing always before him, in the habitable parts of his 
earth ; and my delights were w^ith the sons of men." That 
any departure from this sweet and heavenly nearness has ever 
obtained among human kind seems a consequence of the first 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 57 

recorded woman's disobedience ; for had she preserved her 
integrity, and not yielded to a lower nature, she would not 
have become the slave of man and her sinful nature, but the 
free receptive medium of the mother spirit, as man is of the 
Father. '*Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; the 
sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre ; upon thy right 
hand did stand the queen in the gold of Ophir." (Psalm xlv. 6.) 
While everything in nature presents the two principles of male 
and female necessary to constitute the perfect harmony and 
growth, our i-eligious and secular government has presented 
the strange, one-sided, and inharmonious combination of three 
or many males. No wonder, then, that the idea has arisen 
that the female was but a negative or auxiliary element in hu- 
manity. The religious and highest element presenting such a 
phase, it is not strange that the worldly and secular does not 
surpass it in its recognition of woman, and that the female 
influence is not there to bring in its balance of love and wis- 
dom. But a brighter and better day is dawning. The Most 
High has uttered his voice, " Behold I make all things new," 
— "the new heavens," or spiritual plane, and "the new 
earth," or natural order. Then may we hope to see harmoni- 
ous developments, a rational and consistent faith and Church, 
a just and peaceful government, with a true unfolding of natu- 
ral and spiritual growth, till all attain their highest ideal as 
" sons and daughters of God." 



58 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 



Tf HAPPY new year ! a blessed new year ! 

LA To all who ill goodness will persevere : 
X -L A year of progression ; a year of increase 
To all who delight in union and peace ; 
A blissful, a joyous, harmonious year 
When each one his brother will comfort and cheer ; 
A year to confirm all faith that is pure : 
To conquer our evils and hardness endure. 

Oh happy new year ! most blessed new year ! 
When light shines abundant all danger to clear, 
More hopeful, more loving, more joyous and blest, 
We'll press on to enter the mansions of rest ; 
Not rest for the body nor rest for the mind. 
But rest for the spirit from passions that bind 
Sweet rest from all discord and envy and hate ; 
Oh, what a new year such love would create ! 



HEAVEN WITHIN. 



Oh I what a sweet heaven pure love is creating 
Within the meek souls of the honest and true, 

They follow tlie Saviour in grief or rejoicing 
And seek but his will to know and to do. 

No kingdom so blessed the world can discover. 
No pleasure so sweet, so calm, and so pure. 

No union so strong, enduring forever, 

Oh this is a heaven both blessed and sure. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



59 



CRITICISM AS AN AID TO GROWTH. 




. o the soul thoroughly in earnest 
land inspired with a desire to 
" become perfect, even as the 
Pattern was perfect," everything 
which stimulates to that pro- 
gression is gratefully hailed. 
That it is a great help to be 
faithfully shown our faults, by 
those who love us so well that 
the wounds are those of a friend, 
we all believe ; and though the 
apostle urged his converts to " pro- 
voke one another to good works " we 
think the impulse was to be more by 
example than criticism. 

There is a cutting keenness in the 
operation which we had rather have 
administered when the general eye is not watching 
our mortification. The hand of wisdom and love 
will not often thus lacerate sensitiveness of spirit, 
when the individual is honestly and earnestly striving to 
perform its duty, which an inadvertence or slip of the tongue 
has marred, and politeness would seem to require that such 
mistakes be apparently unnoticed or helped over, in public. 

If oft repeated a word in private would have a much better 
effect at cure, and save not a little heart burning. The fear of 



60 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

making a mistake keeps many a one from uttering a thought 
or professing a good determination, for he feels that he must 
be prepared to meet the criticism which too often awaits those 
who, impelled by a desire to obey every behest of duty, venture 
to obey the impulse stirring within. In meetings for criticism 
and in common social converse it is noble to patiently and 
sweetly receive criticism, and when sufficiently humble to 
overcome all feelings of mortified self-love it can be borne with 
a good grace and be productive of good. 

But when tempted to be severe in our criticism and neglect 
not a silver and lesser rule but the purest and golden one of 
" doing as we would be done by," let us remember a saying 
of one who has had much observation and study of human 
nature and desire for perfection of character ; it is this : — 

"A generous upright nature is always more sensitive to 
blame than another ; sensitive in proportion to the amount of 
its reverence for good." 

Would we not then do well to remember this and be sure 
that our criticising zeal is not the product of unsatisfied destruc- 
tiveness which indulges itself without regard to consequences ? 

" Wouldst thou do harm and yet unharmed thyself abide? 
None ever struck another save through his own side." 
" Since trifles make the sum of human things 
And half our misery from our foibles springs; 
Since life's best joys consist in peace and ease, 
And though but few^ can serve, yet all may please; 
O, let the ungentle spirit learn from hence 
A small unkindness is a great offence." 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 61 



TO THE COMET OF OCTOBER, 1858. 



Noble visitor ! whose shining 

All so brilliant in the west, 
C^lleth forth admiring glances, 

Ere the weary seeks his rest, 
Art thou leaving us so soon ? 

Traveling to thy distant goal ? 
Just as we have grown familiar 

With thy grand, majestic roll ? 

Just as we impulsive seek thee 

Midst the glorious cavalcade. 
Where with light and streamer flying 

Victor-like thou art arrayed ? 
Surely thou out-travelest all 

In thy grand and silent race, 
Mien more portly, train more sweeping 

Than the occupants of space. 

We've admired thee brilliant Comet 

More perhaps than was thy due. 
While so modestly are shining 

Suns to worlds we may not view. 
But perhaps some lofty mission 

Called thee to these distant parts, 
Which thou hast performed with honor, 

And with mystic comet arts. 



62 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

Can It then indeed be hundreds 

Of these earthly years and hours, 
Ere thou'lt be again returning 

To this neighborhood of ours ? 
When old theories and follies — 

(These "old heavens) have passed away? 
And the sordid and the carnal — 

(This "old earth") has gone its w^ay? 

When the new earth is created? 

Wherein dwelleth righteousness 
And the heavens all glad and loving 

Spread their beams to cheer and bless ? 
When " the reign of peace" is come? 

And the brotherhood of love? 
And we've time to contemplate thee 

And thy company above ? 

Farewell ! then, mysterious stranger ! 

Past our ken to comprehend, 
In an orbit less eccentric 

May we life and duty blend ; 
Travel onward in our mission. 

Earnest as thou art in thine, 
Till, transparent, pure and brilliant 

Heavenly glories through us shine. 






CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 63 



SEX-HOLINESS. 



Notwithstanding all faithful labors, the work of freedom 
seems to move slowly. For nearly forty years my soul has 
been in this work ; perhaps the more heartily because I so 
long ago felt the sting inflicted by the words of Paul on 
the woman who would obtain the freedom of Christ. For, as 
long ago as that, a few words of mine in a church-vestry 
prayer meeting, of which I was a member in good and regular 
standing, called out a Sabbath discourse on Paul's teaching, 
that "women should keep silence" etc. But more and more 
it grows on my consciousness that it was Paul who said "I 
suffer not a woman to teach," and not the great Teacher who, 
on more than one occasion, gave woman a special message to 
deliver to her brother man, and who, in no case that we can 
bring to mind, reminded woman of any inferiority. 

She was his companion in labors and in the study of truth : 
the only one who was courageous enough to stay by him until 
his hour of death, and the first to whom he appeared after his 
resurrection, and she was delegated by him to bear the news 
of that event to his demoralized disciples. 

The enthusiasm and success of the ministry of Jesus arose 
in no small part from the fact, that he enlisted the sympathies 
of all in his work, and although the disciples were surprised 
that he talked so long with the woman of Samaria who be- 
longed to a tabooed nation, still she was the means of 
enlightening many of the Samaritans, and a great revival was 
the consequence. 



64 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



While she was gone into the city to tell them that she had 
found the looked for Christ, he was laboring with the disciples 
to convince them that her work was legitimate, and that he 
was awaiting the harvest, and that it was greater delight to 
him to enlighten souls and spread true principles than to eat of 
the food they were preparing. 

His was the two fold labor to strip from the minds of the 
disciples the idea that salvation was for them exclusively and 
not for the women and children; also, to reach out to those 
beyond the pale of what had heretofore been considered lawful, 
and no longer call them common or unclean. There are 
minds yet, to whom such teaching would serve as eye- 
openers, who are priding themselves on their sex-holiness 
even as in the little poem of Whittier's : 

"And if ever one of them chanced to say 
How she longed to pass to the other side, 
Nor feared to cross o'er the swelling tide, 
A voice arose from the brethren then, 
Let no one speak but the holy men ; 
For have ye not heard the words of Paul, 
Oh, let the women keep silence all?" 




CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 65 



TRUTH'S WANDERINGS. 



T .OVELY, pure, and golden bright 
I r May the reign of peace begin : 
.L^ Clouds of darkness turn to light, 
Joy succeed to want and sin ; 
Wisdom's reign of peace and love 
Like a blest evangel dawn : 
Spot be found for wearied dove 
Wandering since creation's morn : 

Seeking for some quiet spot 
Where she might truth's spirit brood, 
Where the beast destroy it not, 
Nor the vulture claim for food, 
Hiding in the wilderness 
Where she patient bides her time 
Hungry souls to save and bless 
*With her healing truths sublime. 

Conquerers in this noble strife 
Gain the victory over self. 
Seek the pure angelic life 
And to grow in good itself. 
"God is love" and such they'll be 
Full of love for all mankind. 
Pure in heart, thy God will see 
In those who their evils bind. 



66 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

Salt are they or goodly leaven 
Saving, lightening as it be 
Those who need a present heaven 
Fitting them a Christ to see. 
Wet his locks are with the dew 
Long he 's called unto his own 
And his word received by few 
Must be by the way side sown. 

Truth's keen sickle must be bared 
And its cutting work be done, 
Judgment to the plumet squared 
Or no victory can be won. 
Ripened souls will bless the day 
Which the harvest work reveals 
Shows that love with clearest ray 
Now no longer truth conceals. 



LIVING WATERS.' 



Jesus, while upon earth, uttered the following memorable 
words: "Whosoever drinketh of the water that^I shall give 
him, shall never thirst." 

The spiritual signification oi water ^ throughout the scrip- 
tures, seems to be a continual inspiration of Truth ; some- 
thing vitally necessary to spiritual growth, and health — mov- 
ing — Living waters — nothing stale and dead. 

The very best and clearest water, as it bubbles up from its 
source on the mountain side, or taken from the running stream- 
let in the valley — if allowed to remain for a long time, even 
in the purest and most costly vessel — will gather, from the sur- 
rounding atmosphere, those noxious gasses, which living 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 6 I 

things are contiiuially giving off in the different processes of 
growth, transformation and decay, and become dead — unfit 
for use. They are no longer livi?ig waters^ containing the 
inspiration and vigor which are derived from tham, when 
drank from the spring, or the flowing stream ; but are a pro- 
lific source of disease and danger. 

On the contrary, the living waters of which Christ spake 
are continually springing up unto eternal life. They have 
the elements of life in them, which keep them constantly in 
motion. Their principle of life, like that of every thing in 
nature, is In constant activity. 

The vital, significant truths, which it was the mission of 
Jesus to reveal, possess life-giving elements, and are as liv- 
ing waters to souls. There is power in them, evincing that 
they come from, and keep their connection and communion 
with the Fountain Head — the source whence they came. 
Those who profess to drink of the waters of life, unless they 
manifest inspirational life., and have that life to bestow on the 
thirsty famishing children of earth, how can they claim to 
constitute the body of Christ — his Church.'^ Have they, in 
their keeping, the testimony, the sound of which is as the 
^'' voice of many waters,*' which proclaims them to be the liv- 
ing servants of Christ.? "By their fruits ye shall know them." 
A living, breathing pulsation from the great Fountain Head, 
and manifesting itself in stainlessness of life, and thorough con- 
secration to good and holy uses, toward all with whom they 
come in contact, especially "the household of faith," is proof 
that they have drank of those living waters ; for by their acts, 
they show that they are vitalized by the pure and glowing love 
of the Divine Parentage, and have bathed in the waters of re- 
pentance 

We are left in the dark concerning many years of the his- 
tory of Jesus ; are only informed that " He grew in stature, 
and in favor with God and man." His season of temptation, 



68 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

which was painfully trying and severe — in which it is stated he 
fasted forty days and forty nights — was succeeded by beautiful 
ministrations from Angels ; and thence forward, his life seemed 
pervaded with a continual influx of good, which he ministered 
to his disciples and all who were willing to receive. In that 
noble, generous heart, there was no shrinking from duty. 
Through self-renunciation, and holy consecration, he endured 
and suffered, that he might benefit others, until his mission on 
earth was fulfilled. 

He said, "he would send the Comforter,*' to his little band ; 
and promised, that those who would drink of his cup and be 
baptized with his baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, should 
" do greater works than he had done." 




CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 69 

THE OCEAN OF GOD'S LOVE I'LL TRUST. 



May, 1869. 



^TUT loose from every mortal stay 

I L Or binding to the shore, 

^^ My bark springs forth upon its way, 

An ocean to explore. 
Eternal love propells her on, 

To reach that wished for shore, 
Where mortal grief and trials deep 

Afflict the soul no more. 

An unseen hand protects her course 

And guides her on her way. 
And quick to shun each hidden rock 

Such counsel will obey. 
Within the heaven calm and bright, 

Serene will be her rest. 
And floating in transparent light 

God's way will prove the best. 



HAVE SALT IN YOURSELVES. "—CHRIST. 



In this day of yielding to the temptatious of avarice and sen- 
suality is it nothing to stand saved from the quicksands which 
are washing away the foundations of so many otherwise noble 
and brilliant souls .-^ Or can a power, or saltness, that saves 
from all these worldly allurements be inferior to anything 
which permits the recklessness of sin ? 

But were we to say what we think is the demand of the day, 
we should say that more of the really pungent and incisive salt 



70 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

of Christianity is the urgent need of the times, that there may 
be more power to resist the temptations of every lust. If liv- 
ing for a principle, sacrificing the natural that the spiritual 
may grow, practicing the old Roman and later Christian self- 
denial is no longer virtue, then we must continue to seek it. 
But when Jesus, after instructing his handful of followers, 
that they were the salt or saving principle of the earth, said 
further to them, " Have salt in yourselves," he was giv- 
ing the most direct confirmation to the idea of individuality, 
the righteousness of Noah or David was nothing to them, nor 
even his own, vicariously. Enough of this salt, or saving 
principle, in the soul, to make the individual invincible to all 
the attractions which lower the tone of goodness was essential. 

How can the salt retain its savor and be resistant to the putri- 
fying and destructive elements around? A slight sprinkling 
of salt gives a relish and zest to some articles of food and is a 
stimulus to vegetable growth, even as the society of individu- 
als, polished by some of the Christian graces, is highly prized, 
even by worldly men. But the integrity of the salt itself is 
lost by entering into chemical combination with the elements to 
which it is thus subjected ; and, unless in quantities sufficient 
to be decidedly unpalitable, is not saving. But, if gathered to 
its like, and sheltered from all unnecessary exposure to the ele- 
ments, it can retain its characteristics and be ready, if needed, 
to furnish the evidence of its savor, pungency, and use. 

Continually are operating on our spirits the selfishness and the 
ambition which will transform the latent good into pollution or 
decay, if the testimony pungent and strong is not burning within 
us, which prevents all compromising with evil, or amalgam- 
ating with deceit. Perfect transparency, as illustrated by those 
whom the Revelator saw " standing on the sea of glass, "is 
the watchword. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



71 



A CITY WHICH HATH FOUNDATIONS." 



MATT. vii. 24, AND HAGGAI ii. 




EMPERED witli sadness is our jo}^, 
And prayers our thoughts employ, 
For avarice which walked on high, 
Whose temples almost touch the 

sky, 
Knows not, alas! its doom is nigh, 
But vainly strives to build anew 
The temples of the past, 
And makes of earthly clay and dew 
A temple that will last. 



The glory of the latter day. 

Whose strength shall bear truth's keenest ray, 

Must be with broad foundations laid, 

With justice and with virtue stayed, 

And righteousness so long delayed ; 

All else will surely sweep away. 

All refuges of lies. 
All shaken in that burning day, 

When grim oppression dies. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



SOME THOUGHTS ON THE WOMAN QLTESTION. 



If woman is to become enfranchised, it must largely be by 
freeing her spirit from the trivial aims and pursuits which now 
cramp and dwarf her spirit, and make her the submission tool 
of her Approbativeness. But as pursuits have been so few 
which it has been allowable and practicable for her to enter, 
she has occupied her noble faculties too often in the busy chase 
of fiishion and popularity. 

Let her Spirituality become as active as some other organs, 
and she will awaken to the deep significance of life, and feel 
that every faculty of her being should be consecrated to its 
highest use. Her Benevolence will then claim a hearing, 
while Conscientiousness and the reasoning powers argue the 
case. 

When I look at a woman, I instinctively take her mental 
dimentions and soul qualities, and if I see that, though pos- 
sessing both in no small degree, she has not emerged from 
the rudimental state of delight in the showy and adorned, I 
long for her to grow and understand her soul capacities, that 
she may rise in the beauty and glory of her womanhood and 
prove her independence of fashion and frivolity. 

The thousand little time-stealers in the shape of embroideries 
and entirely unnecessary articles of taste and fanc}', are rob- 
bing her of the time she needs for the acquaintance and culti- 
vation of her own soul ; and, imagining she is industrious when 
so absorbed, she fails to become the " beam of bright joy to 
the sad-stricken " which she might. Real introspection is 
what she wants — clear-seeing and clear-thinking, that she may 
come into communion with her higher self and those before 



CLOVICR BLOSSOMS. 7,-; 

her wlu) are capable of inspiring her with pure and elevated 
aims and the heroism to he able to live to them and her ideal 
f>f beauty and use. 

When it will grieve her as much to discover that she is sel- 
fish as to learn that she is unfashionable, there will be hope 
for her, for she will then set about cultivating her Benevolence ; 
when to be peevisli, imreasonable or fault-finding will make 
her as annoyed at herself as the blunders and stu])idity which 
have incensed her at others ; when, for the sake of keeping up 
appearances, she no longer relinciuishcs her time, her talents, 
and her peace of mind, tlien, indeed, the day of her woman- 
hood will begin. When to attract the admiration and love of 
man to the pure, the sell-forgetting, and self-denying is her de- 
sire, instead of any personal idolatry, what hope may we not 
have for the race. And if she has led man into the wrong and 
inharmonious, may it not now become her blessed privilege 
and prerogative to lead him back to "wisdom's ways, which 
are pleasantness, and to her paths, which are peace.^" Let 
there be an era of love, and peace, and gentleness, to offset the 
more masculine of pioneership, war, and ambition ; and when 
the transitional phase of it is past, what blessed results of har- 
mony may we hope to seei^ — "tlie lion and the lamb lying 
down together" — not the lamb al)S()rbed into tiie personality 
of the lion, but each its perfect self. 

Hut, in the mean time, how many women in their selfish- 
ness and inertia, exclaim, "I have all the rights I want," little 
thinking it is the kind friends and favorable surroundings, 
which gave them these, and not the laws orexisting conditions 
of society, and that if free themselves, there is an al)un(lance 
of bound and agonized souls who need the love and strength 
of generous hearts to raise them from the abyss of degradation 
and suflering in which they find themselves; who [)erceive no 
ray of light, nor gleam of sunshine, sucii as tliose more favored 
ones might bestow with their womanly sympatiiy or holy 
motherly love for tiie orphaned, or often worse tliaii orpiiaiied. 



74 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



NEW YEAR'S MUSINGS. 



eUIETLY as fall the snow flakes 
On this peaceful new year's eve 
So a heavenly benediction 
From the Father we perceive ; 
Falling like these gentle snow drops 

On the frost prepared soil, 

Giving just the kind of blessing 

To reward the laborers toil. 

So the gracious kind all Father, 

Keeps us in his constant care, 
Gives us just enough of pleasure, 

That our hearts may not despair ; 
While we're blest with earthly comfort, 

Home and friends, a pure relation, 
Food and clothing, warmth and shelter, 

In such goodly habitation. 

We will thank him for his mercies 

With our gratitude and love, 
We will praise him that he ever 

Drew our hearts to him in love : 
Gave us strength to walk the valley 

Where the Saviour led the way 
And to toil in patient waiting 

For the dawn of perfect day. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 75 

Farewell eighteen sixty-six ! 

Thou art gone with all the past 
Farewell to all griefs and trials 

Which we would not have to last. 
Welcome eighteen sixty-seven ! 

May thy closing find us all 
A good measure nearer heaven 

More redeemed from the fall. 

More complete in self-denial, 

More subdued in all we do, 
More rejoicing in the trial 

Which our faith doth call us to. 
More complete in resignation, 

To the cross whate'er it be : 
More determined that our pruning 

In our own vineyard shall be. 



NOTES ON PLATO. 



Plato w^as born B. C. 429 years ; and died B. C. 348. His 
mother, Perictione, was a decendant of Solon ; and his father, 
Aristo, was of an eminent family. He studied eight years 
with Socrates, and was the youngest of the Senate at the time 
of Socrates' arraingment ; but could do nothing to save his 
life. Upon the death of Socrates he fled, with others of his 
disciples, to Italy ; where he gave himself to the discipline of 
Pythagoras, chiefly to the continence, chastity, and knowledge 
of nature possessed by that school. In his school he thought 
it all important to accustom youth to " take delight in good 
things; otherwise pleasures were the bait of evil." "Educa- 
tion should be conducted with a serene sweetness, never by 



76 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

force or v-iolence." His studies did not sour liis temper, nor 
mar his interest in mankind. His ordinary conversation was 
extremely vs^inning. 

He lived single, yet soberly and chastily ; temperately ; 
al)Staining almost entirely from animal food. He slept alone, 
and disapproved very much the opposite manner. Of his pru- 
dence, patience, moderation, magnanimity and other virtues, 
all bear good record. 

He was wont to say : *' See to it, 3^ouths, that you employ 
your idle hours usefully. Prefer labor before idleness, unless 
you esteem rust above brightness. 

Being asked how long he meant to be a scholar, he replied ; 
" As long as I am not ashamed of growing better and wiser." 
Being asked what difference there was betw^een a learned man 
and one unlearned, he replied ; " the same as betwixt a phy- 
sician and a patient." Hearing that some one spoke ill of him, 
he answered ; " No matter, I shall live so that none shall be- 
lieve him." He owed no man anything. He died on liis 
81st birthday, of old age, which Seneca ascribes to his tem- 
perance and diligence. 

In his ideal republic he afforded the same chance to women 
as to men to become its rulers, thus representing the whole 
interest. 

March, 1872. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 77 



FAST DAY HYMN. 



IS NOT THIS THE FAST I HAVE CHOSEN ?"— VERSE G, ISA. 58. 
'LET NOT THE OPPKESSED."— VERSE 21, PSALM 74. 



Pray for our rulers all who can, 

That they be strong and true, 
And that no greed of power or place. 

Their usefulness undo ; 
But, mighty as the hosts of sin 

Of compromise or fear. 
Invincible for right they stand 

Our nation's bark to steer. 

Say never they are firm and strong 

And that they need it not. 
While crafty is the power that long 

Has kept our country's blot ; 
For mighty men in lofty place 

Have fearful snares to shun 
Before the race for freedom's o'er, 

Its mighty battle won. 

Pray for our nation, heaven-blest, 

Yet heaven-daring too ; 
Her many crimes not yet atoned 

A mighty debt still due ; 
A debt of love and kindly deed 

Unto each down-trod race. 
To raise them where their souls can grow 

Nor tyranny deface. 



78 CLOVER BLOSSOMS, 

This is the fiist the lord hath chose 

To loose the bands from thee, 
Undo the heavy burdens, and 

So let the oppressed go free. 
"Let not the oppressed return ashamed, '* 

But "let each yoke be broke." 
That what was freed return no more 

To slavery's galling yoke. 

And that thou deal the hungry bread. 

And keep thy soul drawn out. 
To satisfy the afflicted soul 

And such as are cast out. 
"Then shall thy light break forth on high, 

Thy darkness as noonday ; 
And thou shalt find delight in Go-d 

And comfort in his way. 

Pray for thy peace Jerusalem ! 

Peace be within thy walls, 
All they shall prosper that love thee 

Or keep thy righteous laws. 
And I will keep thee in the hour 

Of trial that shall come 
On all who dwell upon the earth 

Till right shall overcome. 

And if thou watch and pray alway, 

And keep thy garments white. 
And hold that fast thou hast attained 

And serve me day and night, 
Then God shall wipe all tears away, 

All sorrow and all pain, 
Old ills shall all have pass'd away 

And not one wrons: remain. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 79 



THE BALLOT FOR WOMEN. 



In an admirable article by William I. Bowditch he says, 
" The object of voting is to give voice and practical effect to 
the wisdom, knowledge and virtue diffused among the people. 
Do we possess all of these which is worth making use of ? 
Women now vote in parishes and religious societies, and in 
corporation meetings. They now act as overseers of the poor, 
serve on school committees and as school supervisors, etc., 
etc. Dr. Collyer has just publicly thanked Miss Eastman for 
the helpful words she has just uttered from his pulpit. 

"Five times as many boys as girls are in reformatories ; 
more than five times as many men as women are convicts ; more 
than twice as many men as women are paupers, and about 
seventy times as many men as women are engaged in the manu- 
facture of liquor — the nurse of pauperism and crime ! Is it not 
clear that the average woman, with equal opportunities for 
education and development, wi]l show about as much wisdom, 
knowledge and virtue as the average man.^ 

" There is not a good or beautiful feature of the prevailing 
social life which woman suffrage will not expand and cherish. 
There is not a bad feature which it will not frown upon and 
finally extirpate." 



.^^(p;::. 



^ ^IZ^^JT^ 



80 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



THE CENTENNIAL YEAR. 



For what shall this year, the Centennial be known: 

For what be emblazoned high ? 
Or the archives of history what laurels be strown 

That never can wither nor die ? 
What victory gained o'er oppression and wrong 

And all that truth's river dams ? 
What power to enable each heart to be strong, 

What triumph o'er shoddy and shams? 

For what shall this year, the Centennial be known ? 

What I'ecord of progress be made ? 
What noble deed done like sweet flower strown 

To mark this our grandest decade? 
Not honor nor riches, not science nor art, 

Though shining effulgently bright, 
Can make her page white if she still bears a part 

In any injustice or slight. 

Oh, deed the most worthy, if she could but give 

To all of her daughters so brave. 
The freedom her sons have, to be and to live 

All true to the life which God gave ; 
The treasure of freedom our forefathers gave 

With a goodly and blessed increase ; 
A freedom for all, where its broad waters lave, 

Each sex and each nation in peace. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 81 

OUR NATION'S TRIAL. 



There's a gloom upon the Nation, 
There's a cloud upon her brow, 
There's a troubled, deep commotion 
Which she cannot shake off now. 
For her sons in danger wander 
In the land by slavery curst. 
And her freedom and her honor 
They would trample in the dust. 

There's a sadness on her heart 

And a grief upon her soul ! 

For the traitors are a part 

Of her body and her soul ; 

And her mother heart is heaving 

A necessity so dire 

Which compels her to subdueing 

All their treason and their ire. 

While her loyal sons now hasten 
From the workshop or the plow 
To sustain her in the lesson 
She is teaching them just now. 
With a proud and grateful spirit 
They are rushing to her side 
For they know that in her honor 
All their strength and joy abide. 

In the cause of true progression 
Right will triumph though it wait, 
Sure the wheels that speed her mission 
Love will yet o'er master hate : 
" Swords be beaten into plow-shares 
Spears to pruning hooks be turned." 



82 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

FOURTH OF JULY. 

Coming in with blast of horns, and tearing of guns what a 
rolicking wilderness of a day it is ! Little folks and some men 
seem to think that the greater the noise the more complete the 
fulfillment of the purposes of the day. Freedom's birth-day 
should undoubtedly be welcomed and greeted with the pro- 
foundest manifestations of the joy each loyal heart must feel. 
But as the age grows more refined, we opine that some artistic 
soul inspired with benevolence, and pity for the feeble to whom 
such noisy demonstrations are so painful, will originate some 
rational and at the same time more truly joyous manner of jubi- 
lation. And will not the idea then be more pronounced that 
freedom for all is the priceless boon,? — Freedom to believe 
whatever the reason and conscience dictate, and to act accord- 
ingly- 

GRANT. 



Feb. 4, 1869. 



God bless and keep the incoming man ! 

Before whom traitorous legions ran ; 

And give him all the grace he needs 

To fill his span with lofty deeds. 

Our nation's pride and country's hope 

May he with all her dangers cope, 

And lead us to the stormless sea 

Of perfect, true equality : 

Where pure and noblest deeds may shine 

And every earthly good combine 

To make our land the favour'd clime 

Of truth and right and deed sublime; 

True conquerers of every ill 

Our holy mission thus fulfill, 

And prove to all who watch our fate 

A nation just is truly great. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



8n 



LET US HAVE PEACE.' 




lEN war's baptismal 
scourge was o'er, 
a:-^'-^ We heard words 

blest as evening dew 
Reverberating from the halls of 
State, 
Till far and near the echo 
flew — 

" Let us have Peace." 

We heard, and grateful hoped them true. 
And that the world tow'rd progress turn'd : 

Our vision was of Peace and Brotherhood ; 
And full of trust our bosoms burn'd, 
To greet sweet Peace. 

We saw the other half of man 

Upraised, and queenly at his side ; 

Not less he shone, but all the more. 
That righteousness was not denied. 
But brought true Peace. 

In ev'ry trust she took her part, 

And guided with a helping hand. 
In lifting to a better state. 

Those who pollute themselves and land : 
And help'd grow Peace., 



84 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

But while we mused, we heard of ships, 
And increased armaments of war. 

And fear that swords must still be swords. 
And nations keep on learning war, 
Instead of Peace. 

And then we wondered who would dare, 
To tamper with the dial-plate of time. 

And turn the hands of progress back, 
And stay the bright Millennial clime. 
Which is true Peace. 

We wonder'd, but we inly thought 
Of what a wiser one had said : — 

" First pure, then peaceable ! " Is it 
Corruption then that stands between 
Fair earth and Peace? 



THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE." 



How easily we revere the past, that dead past, so full of 
anomalies and the prophets of the past, forgetting that " a 
prophet is not without honor save in his own country " and 
that Jesus declared that " greater works should follow those 
who believed." Yet the prophets and saints and angels of 
the present we unthinkingly ignore, while the uplifting angels 
of the resurrection heavens are in our midst with their trumpet 
tongues and words of fire. 

What a power for good they might become could the 
heralds "see eye to eye" and "become as one," or realize 
that in their somewhat differing testimonies they were only 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. ^ '85 

slightly separate rills all rushing onward to the vast ocean of 
truth. All with somewhat of truth and none with a monopoly 
of it. 

No one thing has seemed more sad than that among the 
noble band of teachers, reformers and martyrs, with which 
the nineteenth century has been blest. vSo much of the zeal 
which was needed to reform existing abuses or enlighten the 
ignorant and the crude was expended in combatting the imper- 
fections of each othor, and those who should be allies be- 
came foes. Shoulder to shoulder, an unbroken phalanx, how 
would the strongholds of superstition fall before truth's onward 
march and the increase of Christ's kingdom. With a greater 
consecration to the cause of good, even to the killing of every 
feeling of envy or desire for pre-eminence, would they 
not be able to witness the successful labors and triumphant 
advances of each successive angel with a hearty God speed, 
feeling that every fellow martyr or herald laboring and acting 
from the inspiration of his controlling heavens, is just as much 
apostle of truth as though he felt the inspiration which is 
warming the soul of a greater or different light. 

" Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge be increased," 
and the different proclivities of different individual minds fur- 
nishing so many channels, each finds its own apostles and 
heralds ; all might be reached and all illuminated. Then the 
foolish cry " I am of Paul, and I of Apollos " — would not need 
to be longer condemned. 



86 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



WHAT CHEER ? 



There's a light streaming forth from the east, 

That gilds the horizon afar, 
And says to each suffering heart, 

Look aloft to the blest morning star. 
There's a promise of day in its beams ; 

There's a promise of freedom and right ; 
There's a promise of peace on the earth. 

And the triumph of love over might. 

There's a joy for the clean and the pure ; 

There's a rest for the v\^eary of sin. 
There's a peace for the conqueror of self, 

And its seat and foundation 's within. 
There's a love for the trusting and frail ; 

There's a tender compassionate heart. 
That weeps o'er the sinner, and cannot assail, 

Nor add to its suffering smart. 

There's a light growing bright in our heart, 

For our Father, who led us this way ; 
There's a love, even warm in our breast. 

For our Mother, our comfort and stay, 
Who suffered and toiled to spread the pure faith 

That shines on our every-day life. 
And lightens and cheers us thro' sorrow and toil 

To faint not, nor sink in the strife. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS, 87 

There's a gratitude due to our King, 

For all his infinite care ; 
There's a duty we owe to our Qiieen ; 

A loyalty everwhere ; 
To honor their cause in word and in deed, 

And light up die temple anew ; 
And worthily walk in their footsteps so pure, 

And oil in our lamps oft renew. 

There's a question will come to each soul, 

When eternity opens its light ; 
There's a sorrow will over us roll, 

If we keep not our lamps burning bright. 
Let us banish all discord, and work while we can, 

And lighten each burden we may. 
While joyfully walking in duty, and use 

The straight and still brightening way. 



NOT GOOD FOR THE MAN TO BE ALONE.' 



The Great First Cause pronounced his works of creation to 
be "very good" with one exception, and it seems as though the 
present condition of society is proof positive that it has " not 
been good for man to be alone," because, first, the more dis- 
tinctly masculine elements have had undue force and activity. 

These qualities as manifested in appropriation and owner- 
ship of some woman, less as a companion than as a minister 
to sensual passion; in the greed of possession and acquisitive- 
ness for the support and maintenance of this relation ; and in 
the wars and animosities which spring from violation of these 
supposed rights ; all these and the consequences resulting, are 
fruits of the positive, aggressive spirit of manhood. Li one 



SH CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

sense, the proper and legitimate effects, because the natural 
characteristics of masculinity. 

Woman's nature, from her different functions, has more of 
the conservative, brooding and effectional elements ; therefore, 
the redemptive process which alone can restore balance to 
monopoly, peace to war, equality to oppression, and harmony 
to anarchy, is the admission of the feminine elements, with 
their more negative qualities, into this mere masculine politi- 
cal organism. 

The race is so nearly equal as to sex, that it is evident, that 
nature in her most astonishing mysteries of chemical forces, in- 
tended these different components, of positive and negative, to 
supplement and balance each other ; and thus to constitute a 
universal marriage which would yield harmony and blessing. 
But, as the positive seized the power, which the negative too 
23assively surrendered, he has gone on uninterruptedly increas- 
ing that part of manhood, government and religion, until the 
love element has almost succumbed ; until the poor, the unfor- 
tunate and the oppressed of the social home, find no Mother 
with ability to redress their wrongs, which, in a just condi- 
tion of society, would have never been known. 

The true Mother Spirit of humanity would scarcely allow 
part of her children to appropriate the food and resources 
which the Divine Parents have provided for the support of 
all their earthly children to the indulgence of the minorit}-, 
while the greater part were suffering the pangs of destitution 
and consequent degradation ; for "One is your Father and all 
ye are brethren." 

As sons pre-suppose a mother, would it not seem to be a 
piece of sound logic ~and good sense, for this self-asserting 
masculinity, to accept the assistance of the maternal and fem- 
inine, and to make good the words they have so long uttered 
in her ears, — "That she was the inspifer of all that is ele- 
vated and good, the lifter-up,^the angel of their lives.? " If 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 89 

an angel, why not use an angel's influence? If the words 
were empty and meaningless, and only a flattering bait to 
lure woman to man's service, let that also be known. 

If " God is love," what loss to debar the societary home 
the influence and unlimited exercise of its most efficient 
minister and exponent? Are the "words mere prattle which 
have ever been offered to Woman's love and devotion? And 
would love change to license and debauchery if left in free- 
dom, as are all the creatures of God? Would the young wo- 
man, who fritters her time so aimlessly away, between fashion 
and amusement, be lowered, if a clerkship or a profession 
gave to her" life the stimulus it does to that of her brother? 
Or would the woman of sense and feminine dignity mar her 
refinement by simply stepping to the polls and depositing her 
vote, any more than by associating with men in shopping or 
in the ordinary aflfairs of life? 

We love the simple truth and cannot tolerate a subterfuge 
or any sham. Some are noble enough to admit the bald fact 
as it stands that, as men, they are loth to give up the pre- 
cedence and power they have acquired, and we honor them 
for the admission, while it only calls them on to greater 
goodness in straightening the paths they have allowed to 
become crooked and in building up what had grown one- 
sided. 

Ecclesiastes, the wise preacher, said in his day, " So I 
considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun ; 
and behold the tears of the oppressed and they had no com- 
forter ; and on the side of the oppressors was power ; but 
they had no comforter." 

We know that the effect of power, unjustly held, has ever 
been to blunt the sympathies and make the exerciser of it un- 
conscious of oppression inflicted ; and, the greater part of men, 
we believe, are still unconscious of the wrong they are do- 
ing to Woman by regarding her as a subordinate, and try to 
convince themselves that by giving her what they call pro- 



90 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

tection ( ?) they are affording her a suitable compensation 
for the abridgement of equality. Let any of them test this 
matter by the teaching, " Whatsoever ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so to them," they would soon 
realize that the position of a subordinate was not desirable, and 
" the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuits of happiness," are 
god-given, as well as man-acquired. Let " the Comforter " 
come as the Saviour promised, in his own compassionate 
Spirit, though it be through Woman. 

In the great moral battery with which the humane are hop- 
ing to relieve the sickness and corruption of the body politic, 
let the negative pole be adjusted to effective purpose, although 
at first the shock may seem tremendous and startling. Let us 
no longer hope for effects when not half of the machine has 
been in operation. If Woman is the negative part of creation, 
at least let her take her place, or the force and efficiency of the 
whole machinery is lost. 

We remember hearing, when we were much younger, that 
"Man without Woman was as the half of a pair of shears," 
incomplete, ineffective ; but the whole significance of the fact 
never dawned upon us until we saw the utter incompetency of 
present customs and laws to give rest to the suffering earth. A 
trifle of forbearance on the part of the stronger, and of willing- 
ness on the part of the sharper to come into line, the screw 
adjusted (by wise law) and what was worthless, comparative- 
ly, becomes a powerful instrument of use and efficiency. The 
edge, although there before, will become available, excrescen- 
ces will be removed, and work will be cut out for the famish- 
ing. 

But, best of all, the present and growing state ef antagonism 
between the sexes will be healed. They will learn how to co- 
operate harmoniously, in all the labors and duties of life. The 
" lion," like monarch of the earthly sphere, led by the sv^^eet 
influence of the Gospel of peace and good will, becomes the 
gentle, harmless companion of the lamb-like. Instead of wait- 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 91 

iiig for a miraculous bringing about of this millenium, let us 
speed its advent, with heart and hand, by bringing our own 
lives and motives into harmony with it. And to return to the 
figure. When from the so long slumbering Adam the new 
Eve takes her place, they will unitedly go forth to subdue 
richer fields and achieve diviner results. 

THE POTTER. 

Romans ix. 21. 

Skillfully working with forethought and care, 

A potter is shaping the clay ; 
Turning the wheel with calmness and prayer. 
For to hopefully work is to pray. 
Faithfully striving 
With care providing 
That no vessel of His 
" Be marred in the hands of the potter." 

Another is forming a vessel so pure 

'Twill be for a spirit's abode ; 
And through all the days of its pilgrimage here 
A joy or a sad incommode 

To the spirit sojourning. 
In striving and yearning 
To fulfill its calling, 
If" marred in the hands of the potter." 

O workman of God ! if as clay in his hand 

Thou art seeking His will but to do, 
Is his glory increased when an imperfect work 
Lays its fact of creation to you ? 
Or when in the ages 
You open the pages 
To trace a long line. 
All " marred in the hands of the potter.?" 



92 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



THE PRECIOUS JEWELS. 



" With jewels of my kingdom I'm now adorning you," 
Says Christ to the beloved who in his steps pursue, 
Your glory and your beauty assembled worlds shall see, 
While in your ransomed garments you shine resplendently. 
No monarch in his kingdom, nor queen upon her throne, 
Nor all the regal glories which this proud earth has shown 
Can rival with the brightness the glory and the grace 
Which shines from the redeemed who've gained that holy place. 

The radiant saphires 's theirs whose gentleness and love 
Diffuse o'er all around them mild rays of heavenly love, 
The warm and glowing ruby for those whose faith and zeal 
Inspire their hearts much ardour and holy love to feel. 
The diamond for those spirits who've suffered to obtain 
A pure and holy garment that's free from every stain. 
And richest gems and pearls whose beauty can't be told 
Have those who prize the gospel far more than mines of gold. 

How glorious then his presence who has the whole combined. 
And every gospel virtue within his breast we find, 
A halo of bright glory around his footsteps shines, 
While love, the blest adorning each beaming feature lines, 
The garments of pure linen so wondrous clear and white. 
Are found about such spirits, though often out of sight, 
And needle work of finest their souls are now preparing 
Most precious garments rich and rare and worth an angels 
wearing. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 93 



HOW TO PREVENT DIVORCE. 



Make public sentiment and laws that give woman the same 
ownership of herself and children and earnings as man has, 
and you* make marriage a just and happy partnership, and 
there will be no need of divorce laws, because the unhappiness 
which causes divorce is thereby prevented. 



THANKSGIVING. 



F 



OR what am I thankful. Saviour dear? 

For truly I know I am thankful and glad 
For what would I hide the silent tear 
Which drops for the needy and piteously sad ? 



For everything, Lord, which is needful for cheer 
To bless or to gladden the heart or the mind ; 

So much that a murmur, a doubt or a fear 
Would feel like ingratitude to the All Kind. 

For what am I thankful ? I never can tell 

The half of the blessings which fill up my cup 

The food for the soul to help it do well, 

And food for my mind which helps lift me up. 

" The peace like a river," so still and so deep. 
So restful and quiet, so calm and secure. 

That trusts in the tempest the Power 'twill keep 
The heart that is striving like Him to be pure. 



94 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



GEORGE RIPLEY. 

" Sing of the hope that has grown to the height of love ; 

For, though lowly its birth, ' 
It spreads like a flower which drinks in the light from above, 

With its root in the earth." 

— Emily Pfeiffer. 

The life of a man who has lived for humanity and spent his 
brightest and best days for others instead of self, has a charm 
such as no tale of romance or history can have. Such an one 
is the volume by Rev. O. B. Frothingham. lately issued at the 
Riverside Press. Its object, as the author says, is to recover 
the image (which it does in a fine engraving) and do justice to 
the character of a remarkable man, the pursuits of w^hose latter 
years gave him little opportunity to display his deepest con- 
victions, while his singular charm of manner and conversation 
concealed from all but those w^ho knew him well the recesses 
of his feelings; a man of letters, a man, too, of ideas and pur- 
poses w^hich left a broad mark on his age, and deserved to be 
gratefully borne in mind. 

He was born in Greenfield, Mass., Oct. 3, 1802. On his 
mother's side he was related to Benjamin Franklin, and his 
father was an eminently upright and worthy man. His educa- 
tion, begun at the public schools, was pursued at Hadley and 
at Cambridge. In a letter from the latter place to his sister, 
he says: "There is here a fine fund of knowledge floating 
about in the atmosphere, and in minds which have anything 
like a chemical affinity for it, it lodges ; other minds it poisons, 
and makes them pedantic and proud." In another he says : 
" I am no partisan, but I must rejoice in seeing any progress 
towards the conviction that Christianity is indeed ' glad tidings 
of great joy.' " 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 95 

In 1826 he was ordained pastor of the church at the corner 
of Purchase and Pearl streets, Boston. He was a faithful 
student, enriching his mind thereby, so that his sermons were 
simple, clear and calm, and in passages animated by a singular 
intellectual glow. In one of them he says : " The work of the 
evangelist of the present day is to bring the religion of society 
into accordance with the religion of Christ." Theodore Par- 
ker describes Mr. Ripley at this time " as discussing with Dr. 
Channing, with great power of thought and richness of elo- 
quence, the question of the progress of civilization." " Had 
the conversation," he records, '^ been written out by Plato it 
would equalany of his beautiful dialogues." In a letter to his 
parishioners, he says : " The great fact of human equality be- 
fore God is not one to let the heart remain cold ; it is not a 
mere speculative abstraction ; it is something more than a 
watchword for a political party, to gain power with, and then do 
nothing to carry it into practical operation." " Blame me for 
it if you will, but I cannot behold the degradation, the ignor- 
ance, the poverty, the vice, the ruin of the soul, which is 
everywhere displayed in the very bosom of Christian society in 
our own city, while men look idly on without a shudder." 
With such benevolence of heart, it is not strange that his 
connection with a popular and conservative society came to a 
close, and in literary activity he sought solution of these deep 
problems where he might " utter the word given him to 
speak." Projects of radical social reform in 1840 were in the 
air ; so that the plunge from the pulpit to Brook Farm was not so 
rash as it might seem, but was a proof of his deep sincerity. 
" The enthusiasm of humanity " was widespread. "The Brook 
Farm Association for Education and Agriculture " was started in 
1841. One third of the subscriptions were paid in, Mr. Ripley 
pledging his library for four hundred dollars of this amount. 
With the sum subscribed, a farm with a little less than two 
hundred acres was bought for $10,500, in W^est Roxbury, nine 



96 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

miles from Boston, on the spot where the Apostle Eliot 
preached to the Indians, his grave being hard by. 

The book gives a vivid picture of the toils and struggles en- 
dured by Mr. Ripley and his heroic wife for the infant colony ; 
its failure, and his subsequent return to literary resources — his 
work on the New Cyclopcedla, the Exaininer^ the Indepen- 
dent^ and the Tribune; and is one of the most readable and 
interesting volumes in our librar3^ 



COMPLAINT OF THE BLUSTERING WIND. 



Cold breath of the stormy wind ! What sayest thou } 
Art shrieking or shouting.? I cannot tell now, 
But earnest thou art as rattling the pane 
Or lifting the latch I hear the complain. 
I'm out on the mission for ages I've done, 
While you for a space are turned from the sun. 
And in the discharge of my duty so clear, 
Again would find welcome as honored and dear. 

But passing the corner just now, I o'er took 
A poor little maiden with pitiful look ; 
She gave me no welcome but shudder'd and sigh'd, 
As if from my presence she'd sooner have hied. 
I next passed a lady all wrapped up in furs. 
Rich satins and velvets and jewels were hers. 
She gave me no smile nor greeting at all, 
But pursed up her mouth so dainty and small ; 

I think 'twas her heart that made her so cold, 
For she passed a poor beggar all rinkled and old. 
With the same chilling look, nor offered to share 
Of bounties the which she'd enough and to spare, 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 97 

And only just now while passing the door 

Of a rich merchant banker most seventy-four, 

I gave a salute which he only returned 

With a gruff and a growl as my notice he spurned. 

His room was as warm as the mild summer air. 

And brilliant with gas and all that is fair, 

And muffled and wrapped in his soft easy gown 

He was thinking of stocks and exchanges down town. 

His mind was o'er-borne and sadly perplexed ; 

By night and by day was troubled and vexed 

To know how to keep in safety and gain, 

The riches that bring him such trouble and pain. 

In yonder dark cellar I glanced through the pane, 
And saw such a sight as I would not again, 
A mother was tending her sick, dying child. 
With countenance saddened and trustful and mild : 
No drink could she give it, for famine and grief 
Had dried up the fount of its joy and relief; 
She pressed the poor babe to her heart with a sigh. 
And murmured of heaven and warmth that were nigh. 

Its father disheartened for lack of employ, 

Had yielded his honor and comfort and joy, 

And lay in a corner besotted and vile 

And cursing the day when he yielded to guile. 

Do you wonder I shriek or murmur so loud. 

When viewing such sights while passing the crowd ? 

With so few to welcome my hearty embrace, 

Or give me an honest and upturned face? 

'Tis true that the husbandman prudent and wise. 
Can let me look straight in his face and eyes, 
Nor fears my approach for a stout manly heart 
Prepares him to act at my coming his part, 

13 



98 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

His crops are all in, his harvest secure, 
His garners o'er flow^ with the good and the pure. 
And now he can think of the goodness of heaven 
And give to the needy and add to his heaven. 

The good honest school boy, he welcomes me too 
With greetings and plaudits not scanty nor few. 
And laughs and hurrahs at my antics and fun. 
While I hasten his walk to a skip or a run. 
But, I'm screaming again ! I know it full well ! 
And suppose that I must the cause of it tell, 
I peeped in a garret just now as I passed 
And saw a worse sight than even the last. 

A sweet little girl all trembling and blue 

Was shivering in clothes so tattered and few. 

That I knew she would shiver the more if she heard 

My voice at the window so dingy and blur'd ; 

In plaintive low accents she wondered, ' Oh, why 

Must I stay here in anguish to suffer and die? 

While bright little girls around me I see 

As happy and joyful as aught that can be. 

O would I could learn to be useful and good, 
'Twere better almost than clothing or food. 
But here I must stay with the vile and the low, 
For I've no better home to which I can go. 
A little would give me both comfort and joy, 
And teach me these moments of pain to employ, 
A book or a teacher, O, would they were mine. 
And others in satins and jewels might shine.' 

A poor beggared uncle in want and despair, 
Was keeping the orphan his garret to share : 
No kindness around her, no comfort nor joy, 
No warmth to encourage, nor grief to alloy, 



CLOVICK FJLOSSOMS. 99 

Do you wonder I shrieked or moaned in despair, 
When I saw all the misery and wretchedness there? 
And thou<^ht of the plenty o'er flowing tke earth, 
Which shared and divided would (ill them with mirth. 

Do you wonder I screamed and roared at the door, 
Of the man who oppresses and grinds down the poor ; 
That what measure he gives will sinx'ly be given, 
To him running o'er from the Just One in heaven? 
Or that clattering around the spend-thrift's abode 
I warn him that surely he's on ' the broad road,' 
If dues flom the humble or needy he'll keep 
Nor think of the dark bitter fruits he will rea[)? 



ANGELINA GRIMKE WELD. 



It was our happy privilege to be near and acquainted with the 
noble spirit, whose passage to the better land has lately left so 
large a void in our niidst. Not that we feel she lias gone, or 
far removed from us ; Init that we have not her living outward 
presence moving about among us, stirring us by her straight- 
forward simplicity and active thoughtfulness for others to every 
good word and work. Iler very appearance was a testimony 
against extravagance and display ; her countenance a rebuke 
of shams and low ideals, and her smile the out-beaming of an 
earnest soul, at peace with God and with itself. 

To have seen and known her, was a joy, a pride, and a satis- 
faction ; and to attend and witness the services previous to lay- 
ing away her outward tabernacle, a rare privilege of solemn 
interest. For it was a gathering of the nearest of the band of 
reformers and abolitions, — that noble army which is so rapidly 
leaving us and recruiting on the other side, — their meeting, 



100 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

to pay reverance to one who, perhaps, was without a peer in 
conscientious self-sacrifice and devotion. 

At the funeral, a very large concourse gathered together at 
her residence, to pay the last tribute of respect. The services 
consisted of music, prayer and remarks. Among the speakers, 
were Rev. Dr. Morison, Wendell Phillips, Elizur Wright, 
Lucy Stone, and Mr. Walcott. Dr. Morison held in the high- 
est esteem and love the departed sister. He thought of all 
Christian women he had known, he had never been acquaint- 
ed with one who so completely filled the character of a Chris- 
tian in her sweet womanliness, combined with indomitable 
strength of character. He alluded to the tenderness and sym- 
pathy she felt when only four or five years old. She obtained 
a bottle of sweet oil, and quietly went and applied it to the 
scourged backs of the slaves. 

Mr. Wright read touching words concerning the connection 
of the deceased with the anti-slavery movement. Mr. Walcott 
followed in words of hearty appreciation of the character and 
work of this noblewoman. Mr. Phillips spoke of the fine 
spirit, which reminded him of a pure, white dove in a dark, 
cloudy sky. She commenced her work in the forlorn cause, at 
a time when to be an abolitionist was to bear reproach and 
martyrdom ; and she felt it her duty to bear testimony against 
her mother's slave-holding, and she was obliged to separate 
from her father's house. Her wonderful gift of eloquence was 
the greatest and most convincing he ever knew from woman's 
lips ; and when, night after night, she spoke in the State 
House, to the leading men of the times, Massachusetts heard 
words such as she had never heard before. He alluded in ap- 
preciative words, to her failing health and her connection with 
their school upon the banks of the Passaic, and the fortitude 
and patience which characterized her last days. She is not 
dead but gone before. She will still be with the dear ones of 
her home and heart, a connecting link between this and the 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 101 

better world, helping them and others to the heights she has 
attained. 

Lucy Stone made feeling and interesting remarks on the 
great work she had done for humanity, and thought none had 
done more for the enfranchisement of woman than Sarah and 
Angelina Grimke, and Abby K. Foster. At the close the 
people sang, " Nearer my God, to Thee." 

Rarely does one see a gathering of such spirits, loved and 
purified by their labor for freedom and right. 

The saintly form, clad in its simple robes, lay surrounded 
with the choicest vines and flowers, with a pure, white lily in 
her bosom, regal and queenly, like the fair spirit it adorned. 

Gathered with the angels, 

Garnered in her prime, 
Ere the clouds of darkness 

Dim the soul sublime. 

Sweet may be her passage 

To the Elysian fields, 
Where each life-time struggle 

Golden fruitage yields. 



HARVEST HYMN. 



God of the harvest and vintage and land ! 

For blessings unnumbered that flow from thy hand, 
This bounteous harvest that gladdens our eyes. 

Gratefully now our praises arise. 
Poor though our gratitude may it be free. 

Welling in thankfulness Father to thee. 
Filially, gratefully blest One above 

Would we acknowledge these fruits of thy love. 



102 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

Surely the harvest of souls it is great, 

But who is to gather them from their lost state? 
As saith the Saviour " the reapers are few" 

Who are content his steps to pursue ; 
Rescue the hungry and thirsty in soul 

While their own spirits are spotless and whole : 
Toiling in weariness, watching and pain 

To gather the sheaves into garners again. 

For '^ the great harvest" our souls would prepare 

In thy blest gath'ring a small harvest share, 
Of fruits of the spirit in love, joy and peace, 

May we bring forth an abundant increase. 
Life everlasting our spirits would reap — 

So may we cultivate gather and keep — 
That bringing our sheaves with rejoicing and care, 

To the great Husbandman we can repair. 



A TOUCHING MEMORIAL. 



The following lines, found among the papers of the late 
Angelina Grimke Weld, will be of interest to many. They 
embody a petition drawn up and circulated by her in 1842, 
when her benevolent zeal for the welfare of humanity was 
seconded with health and strength to obey the behests of the 
conscientious and self-sacrificing motives which inspired her. 
Unfortunately, a painfnl accident which occurred about this 
time, deprived all those who knew her afterwards, of the un- 
derstanding of the wonderful power and magnetism which ac- 
companied her earlier efforts. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 103 

REMONSTRANCE 

Of the Citizens of Belleville, N. J., to the Honorable the 
Court of Qriarter Sessions for Essex County, now in sesssion 
in the City of New^ark. 

May it please your Honors: 

The undersigned citizens of the township of Belleville, re- 
spectfully and earnestly remonstrate with your Honorable 
Body, against the issuing of any license giving authority for the 
vending within this township, for the ensuing year, intoxi- 
cating liquors as a beverage — substance, which, wherever they 
have been used as drinks, have smitten the community with 
more desolating plagues than famine, pestilence or war. 

We implore you, as the constituted guardians of the peace of 
society, the conservators of the public welfare, appointed to 
guard the rights and to promote the interests and happiness of 
your fellow-citizens, not to lend the sanction of your authority 
to the letting loose upon us of disease, casualities, pauperism, 
assaults and batteries, mid-night revels and breaches of the 
peace, licentiousness, insanity, crime and death, — but so to em- 
ploy the power committed to your hands, that it may be a dis- 
penser of public blessings, and thus fulfill its original design. 

By the wide-spread havoc produced in our township, the 
waste of health, time and poverty, the perversion of industry, 
enterprise and public spirit by the burdens imposed upon the 
community through the recklessness, prodigality, pauperism, 
disease and crime caused by the use of intoxicating drinks — 
by the degradation of character and the corruption of morals — 
the hopes blighted, minds paralyzed, consciences seared and 
hearts broken — the wives widowed in our midst, children 
made fatherless and gray hairs brought in sorrow to the grave 
by this terrific destroyer — we do respectfully and importu- 
nately conjure your Honorable Body to withdraw from such an 
inhuman vocation the sanction of your names, office and influ- 
ence. 



104 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS, 



AN AUTUMN IDYL. 




LONG coveted undertaking, or a sort of Ultima 
Thide w^as brought about recently, which was 
the ascent of Blue Hill. Learning that a party 
of pedestrians were to make the trip, we joyful- 
ly oftered to be of the number, and a little be- 
fore three o'clock the party gathered was well 
on the road. Conversation and occasionally exstacies over an 
exceptionally fine bit of coloring, beguile^l the time over the 
first mile or two, but the latter ones and the steep and rugged 
ascent proved that we wxre unused to mountain climbing. 
But thanks to the exhilerating air and kind and helping hands 
and cheerful companionship, the elysian height was reached 
in safety. Private generosity and a wonderful piece of engi- 
neering labor have constructed a road to the summit, but as 
this is washed by every rain, it is rough and rocky by ascent. 
But we found several teams at the top, and one which, from 
the fragile nature of its load, would require steadier hand to 
guide it down the steep than those empty glasses denoted. But 
closing our eyes and thoughts to all human mutability, we 
drank in a far sweeter elixir of life as our vision took in the 
grand and restful panorama which opened before us. 

No wonder that the mountain top has been the resort of 
those who would come into closer communion with the Divine, 
nor that the glowing foliage seemed to them indeed like a burn- 
ing bush, so full is all nature of the glory of the Creator. 
Like a silver thread lay the Neponset curled among the fields of 
green, while the lakes of Ponkapoagand Massapoag showed as 
clearly defined outlines as figures on a child's slate. 

The firm stone buildingfs of the siofnal service were closed to 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 105 

the crowd, with the significant notice, " No water." All too 
soon we had to commence the descent, for night was coming 
and lights were burning, when the home nest was reached, (see 
last page) , but the sweet vision still lingers of the beautiful Blue 
Hills. 

The Thought Club held its regular meeting Tuesday after- 
noon with Mrs. Webster. The club has continued its study 
of Shakespeare, and having finished reading "The Merchant 
of Venice " the members were helped to a clearer understanding 
of the play, and its characters, by a fine analysis by Mr. Weld. 
Arrangements were made for one of the social evening enter- 
tainments so' popular last winter, and the prospects for a suc- 
cessful season are bright and promising. 



THERE REMAINETH A REST" FOR THE PEO- 
PLE OF GOD. 



WEARY heart O rest thee now 
In thy Saviour's love ; 
Soothe the anguish from thy brow 
In that boundless love. 
So thou'rt called to thy rest 

On this fair new year. 

May thy soul be fully blest 

And thy prize appear. 

Earthly trials, mortal pain 

Now for thee are o'er, 
And in thy exceeding gain 

Be joyful ever more. 
Soon we'll join thy upward way 

To that land the best. 
Soon " all tears be wiped away " 

In '^ The saint's sweet rest." 



106 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



A BIRTH DAY REMINISCENCE. 



On the fifteenth of August, 1887, quite a number of friends 
gathered at the home of the author of these tlioughts and gar- 
nered memorials, to celebrate the eighty-eighth anniversary of 
the birth of her aged mother. Loving congratulations and the 
reception of gifts filled the time and soon v^^on the grateful 
thanks of the pleased and happy recipients of so much kind- 
ness and cheer. From among the many choice gifts we cull 
one to share with appreciative friends. 

Mrs. Elizabeth G. Hedge : — 

Dear venerable and venerated sister ! Your old octogena- 
rian brother, four years your junior, comes on your eighty- 
eighth birthday, to greet you with his glad all hail ! Joy to 
you ! Blessings on you ! Our Father hath meeted out to each 
of us a pilgrimage. How long? How short .^ How check- 
ered.^ How dashed with tears and smiles, griefs and joys, 
trials and deliverance, wounds and healing — all to teach, 
train, chasten, discipline, and develop into His own " bond of 
perfectness." All are the blessings of a loving Father, who 
" sitteth as a refiner and purifier of silver" to purge away its 
dross. Whether your next birth day finds us in the flesh here^ 
or in the spirit there^ or one here and the other there, what 
mattereth it.? To God, time and space are nullities ! Thus 
let them be to us. 

Faithfully your old friend and brother, 

Theodore D. Weld. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 107 



GOD SPEED THE DAY." 



He speeds the day ; it is his own, 

And hastens swift along ; 
For suffering souls there yet is born 

A gladness bright and strong. 
He speeds it most in seeming ill, 

In times of trouble sore ; 
For when each earthly idol's still, 

We turn to Him the more. 

A peace is born of conflict deep 

With carnal selfish ways ; 
And those who this sweet peace can keep, 

Fear not while truth delays. 
He speeds it in the hurricane, 

The fiery fiend and hail, 
To help us find that greater gain 

Which tempests can't assail. 

He speeds it in the justice deep, 

Which sinful living scorns ; 
That what we sow we sure shall reap, 

And not the grape of thorns. 
That if our life is full of greeds. 

And narrow, selfish aims, 
The sphere we move in feels the seeds 

Which such a life proclaims. 



108 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

The miasmatic state it breeds, 

Engenders evils sore, 
Until in pestilence the seeds 

Spring up and grow the more. 
Or if in burning lust or hate 

The life be inly spent. 
The outer sphere is only mate 

To that by which it's rent. 



WHY DOES NOT SUFFRAGE COME? 



Firstly, because of the indifference of women, or in other 
words, the lack of that divine enthusiasm which is so necessarv 
to cope successfully with a wrong which is interwoven with 
every warp and thread of life. And her failing to consider 
that she has aught to do to remedy existing abuses, not realiz- 
ing in her own case that " who would be free themselves must 
strike the blow." 

Secondly, the common, but often unconscious unwillingness 
on the part of man to share the absolute monarchy he has held 
so long, requiring more heroism and true manhood than all 
are in possession of. Then, lastly, a feeling grown of tradition 
that some how or other a millenium is sure to come when 
every wrong will be righted, and justice will come without all 
this labor of humanity. This certainly cannot be the spirit of 
beneficence which animated the breast of Jesus, or which will 
bring about the redemption of the world. Emancipation 
meant little for the negro without the ballot, which would be 
as much for the elevation of woman and consequently of the 
whole people. It would help educate women giving them en- 
larged and better ideas as citizens and home makers. And 
self-development is as much and necessary a right for woman 
as for man. As Mrs. Gage says, " A woman is a woman in 
soul and spirit," and prefers to be. " Equality does not mean 
identitv." 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 109 

ON WHITTIER'S SEVENTY-FIRST BIRTH DAY. 



Ring the joy bells ! Crown the Poet ! 

Let our peans fill the air, 
Wait not till the poet passes 

Up the bright and golden stair. 

For the dear and blessed Saviour 

Bringing sacred gifts to men, 
Must have stirr'd this heart of pity 
■ Thus to feel for fellow men. 

Like the Master how he suffered 
When the wrath of man he felt, 

But his soul undaunted laboured — 
At his feet the bondmen knelt. 

Weave the chaplet for he's worthy, 
Crown him with your choicest bays, 

But O where's the coming Bayard 
To prolong fair freedom's lays? 



CAUSE AND EFFECT. 



Of all the " many inventions mankind have sought out," 
none seem so little fraught with good to him, spiritually, as 
those which offer to him immunity from the effect of sin. 
Why.? Because, the one thought now is to avoid the penalty, 
not considering that the cause is the wrong to be avoided, and 
that the penalty is nothing more nor less than the consequence 
which must follow certain causes. 

Cause and effect are inseparable, and must succeed each 
other, as certainly as the ebbing and flowing of the tide, or 



110 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

the oscillations of the pendulum. " The soul thai sinneth 
(against the laws of its being) shalt die," was fulfilled, though 
the mortal body might not then have perished. Its spiritual 
perceptions and life were so paralyzed, that the true and higher 
life was sacrificed for the time, and has thus continued, until 
One came with power enough over the body to fulfill the law 
of obedience, put it into subjection to the spirit, and show how 
it could be done. 

The Adamic Parents waited not until the time when they 
could generate rightly. The result was a murderer, instead 
of a being on as high a plane as themselves. Though becom- 
ing as gods, through the creative function, they sank from the 
innocent and guileless, until, now, the fig-tree covering has be- 
come the most engrossing thought^ instead of the cause that 
produced its necessity. The primal innocence is gone, and 
nothing can restore it but the avoidance of what has so long 
destroyed it, and filled the earth with wantonness. Let us 
draw a figure as did the Master, to illustrate from common 
life. In your house you have an ice closet which was con- 
structed to run its waste water into a vessel beneath it. But 
lately it leaks and the pan does not receive it, and your floor 
is wet and you are annoyed. 

" That can be remedied " says one, " have a platform made 
sa large as can be put under, with a border around it, and run 
the water from that." Well, you try it, and it keeps most of the 
water from the floor. But suppose you would look into the 
refrigerator and see the floor beneath that zinc, soaked and 
decaying, the charcoal saturated with water, and the under 
floor almost ready to drop out. Would you think your re- 
frigerator was saved } Would you not say, what a fool I was 
to doctor effects instead of searching for the cause.? All I 
needed was something to reach the cause. A little skill and 
solder, and sense, seasonably and suitably served, would have 
sufficed. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. Ill 

But in this tabernacle of the body, we ignore the laws of its 
construction, and into its fine delicate membranes we crowd 
anything we happen to, without regard to its needs or capabili- 
ties, and then feel surprised if it cannot keep doing, and the 
machinery all run smoothly, while the vital forces are wearing 
out, prematurely, in an outlay which is at the same time de- 
frauding the mind and soul of their life and inspiration. 

Or, perhaps, we dress so tightly that the thin delicate texture 
of the lung cells cannot resist the pressure, and they, conse- 
quently, are not inflated and thus loose their life element and 
become diseased locally. Then, by not performing their 
functional work, the white blood or chyle fails to become 
charged with oxygen it should receive through the lungs to 
change it into the healthy vitalizing fluid, and the individual 
becomes pale and wasted, or burnt up with the fever nature 
intensifies, to assert once more her healthy poise of function. 

We will speak of another fruitful cause of mischief, for 
whatever interferes with health of body, has its reflex on the 
spirit, and causes unhappiness and waste. We perhaps bring 
the delicate valves of the skin almost in contact with the chill 
or frosty earth, and thus close up the gates nature has provided 
for the ejection of a large amount of exhausted and impure mat- 
ter, and then call it disease, when nature opens one of her 
more apparent relief gates to preserve the life. 

We have made life so full of inventions, so artificial and 
complicated with fashion, parade and sham, that there is one 
continual strain on body and nerve. Although any quantity 
of labor-saving machinery have been tried, yet the ornaments 
and complications increase in greater ratio and there is no time 
left for rest of spirit, or for introspection. Many a tired and 
harassed house-keeper must look longingly forward to the 
rest of the grave. 

So far removed are mankind from simplicity that the great- 
est boon now is, a resort to the wilderness, the mountains, or 



112 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

the ocean ; where man's inventive genius has not robbed them 
of the simple grandeur and charm of nature's v^^orks. There 
they find healing and invigoration. 

Though all animal and plant life seek the light and sunshine, 
except in its highest meridian, still, humanity, v^^ith similar 
internal organs and mechanism, shut themselves up in dark 
and dingy rooms, and bar out each ray of sunshine that would 
force itself in, lest carpets be faded, or flies flourish, for even 
they cannot live in the dark, except in a dormant condition. 
We exclude life and health conditions, and wonder that we 
ache, and groan, and die palsied; wonder that life is deteri- 
orating ; wonder that the daughters are not equal to the mothers. 

Verily the Fathers builded better than they knew, when 
they cleared the land of trees in preparing a location. And the 
utility of blinds must certainly be questioned, if the glorious 
Autumnal Sun or blessed warmth of his Winter shining must 
be excluded. 

" He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good," 
and none are so far removed from the Father's loving provi- 
dence, that this is not their right. 

Truly said the wise Teacher, " The light is sweet, and a 
pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sun." " The 
people that walked in darkness have seen a great light." Why 
spoken of so exultingly, if light is not blessing, and darkness 
and anguish almost synonymous curses .^^ 

Or, why the promise.^ "Moreover the moon, shall be as 
the light of the sun, seven fold, in the day when my people 
are healed of their wounds and bruises." Or, why say of those 
who oppress the helpless that " their sun shall go down at 
noon, and the earth be darkened in a clear day 1 " 

As light, and the opening of the interiors, are in corres- 
pondence spiritually, so are sun-light and health in the natural. 

But one more figure. There stands a house. It is not old, 
and is nicely painted ; but there is some defect, or sickness on 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 118 

one of its sides. " Oh, well," you say, "it is made of poor 
material." But are you sure that is the trouble? Away upon 
the roof there is a hole where there should be a shingle. Not 
near the defect, it is true, but in range with it, and much of 
the leakage has obeyed the law of hydrostatics and quietl}^ 
glided down on the rafters, and has found an outlet through 
the finish which once made the building a thing of beauty. 
And that is only an effect which it is proper and right to ex- 
pect of such a cause. Can you blame nature, or aught but 
your own neglect, if the building should crumble? You would 
have too good an understanding of cause arid effect to say that 
the builder or- his work was the cause of the mischief. You 
can only say the aperture in the roof should have been at- 
tended to. 

But of the wonderful house which the spirit occupies, the 
entrances are guarded by sentinels, who are free agents, en- 
lightened by reason and instruction, and though they say, 
Withhold ! and try to stop the door, inclinatio?i and carnal 
secui'ity say, " Leave it open ! If a leak start I can mend it. 
There is pain killer^ just the thing." Or, if the mechanism 
gets over-worked and under-fed with the bracing air or sun- 
light, use a little linitnent.^ or start it up with a dose of some- 
thing which is so repulsive that it is in labor till it expels it. 
And that you call cure. How long can the mortal tenement 
endure such treatment? Strange that a harp of thousand 
strings should keep in tune so long. 

But we started with the sickness of sin : and now ask if the 
same principles of common sense we would apply to other 
things, are not in order here? Shall we keep on sinning, be- 
cause Christ died for sinners? or because sin can be confessed? 
Does that stop the sin and its consequences, which are physical 
and spiritual deterioration, any more than the platform saved 
the refrigerator? 

"Mankind were created upright," manly and noble as lords 



114 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

of lesser creations; but, "they have sought out many inven- 
tions," —depraved and perverted habits; have named, and 
classified the effects, and called them inherited evils and dis- 
ease ; whereas, if we viewed them as consequences of our 
own, perhaps ignorant transgression, and sought their anti- 
dote in avoidance of producing causes, would we not be more 
consistent? 

Can we wonder that Jesus said, " Except a man deny him- 
self, and take up his cross daily, he cannot be my disciple?" 
Not only subdue the passions but the appetites. The leakage 
which is ruining manhood, is unbridled appetite; and the 
deceptive invention, that there is a way to avoid its conse- 
quences, and thus divorce cause and effect. 



OUR DEPARTED HEROES. 



Not in the mouldering ground below, 

Do our dead heroes lie ; 
But in the glowing spirit-land 

Where they can never die. 

The flowers we drop, the tears we shed, 

Memorials of our lost. 
Bring sadly to our burdened hearts 

Their fearful price and cost. 

But, slain in freedom's holy cause 
We may not mourn their loss ; 

For not a good of precious worth 
Has been without its cross. 

The freedom which the black man shares 

Will yet be given all ; 
And male and female. Gentile, Jew, 

Respond to freedom's call. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



115 




BLUSH ROSES. 



Oh, Roses, how you speak to me of beauty 

And the perfect yet to be ! 
For, amid your smiles and blushes 

God's love shines resplendently. 



116 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



A PARLOR MEETING. 



There was a delightful gathering of neighbors and mem- 
bers of the Thought Club, on Wednesday evening, at the 
home of Mr. and Mrs. Payson, on Fairmount. Mr. Weld elo- 
quently rendered passages from Macbeth. Mr. and Mrs. 
Giles and Mrs. Payson gave charming readings, and Mrs. 
Cooper, and Miss Davis, and Mrs. Giles enlivened the intervals 
with music. Mrs. E. H. Webster read a short essay as fol- 
lows : 

" Death is but the cloud that lies 
Between our souls and Paradise." 

As this couplet was given me by a dear friend, I exclaimed 
how lovely ! and thought it true. But as I examined 
it mentally, I saw that it was only partially true or rather 
it conveys a half truth. That death is as unreal as a cloud, 
1 admit ; but that heaven necessarily lies beyond, I do not 
believe. For heaven is now, and with us if we will. If we 
work to have it, it does not wait for any ceremony like that 
of death, although that is the going out of the greatest or most 
universal fear. " The kingdom of heaven is within," and in 
the understanding and fulfilling of the beautiful truths of the 
Gospel, lies the secret of happiness, harmony, growth and 
blessedness. " Harmony itself is happiness and heaven. All 
seek happiness, but there is none outside of God. Man's nor- 
mal condition is happiness and health. We unfold step by 
step, day by day, and what a joy it is to feel that we have 
gained a step, even better than to have had all at once." " The 
gifted, progressive Mary Ciemmer who has just passed to the 
other side, is not less, but more, herself. And I accepted the 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 117 

reproof of a friend, because I said, " What a loss!" There 
can be no loss, she said, in mind, nor for such as she." A few 
weeks before the passing away of "•' Warrington," he sat one 
day as was his wont, before his open fire, in a meditative pos- 
ture, with his hands at rest. As his wife entered the room, 
he looked up with a bright smile, and said, "It is curious how 
the belief in the immortality of the soul grows upon you. As 
I have been sitting here day after day, it has come to me ; and 
I am sure of it, as sure of it, and of living again, as I am that I 
am here. It is just like going into another room. I feel every 
day like one who walks by a hedge and is looking for a gate, — 
a gap to go through, to walk on the other side." Lydia Maria 
Child, in writing of the death of a friend, said, " Death will be 
to him merely passing out of one room, filled with friends, into 
another room still more full of friends." What a blessing it 
would be if we could establish the belief that life goes right on, 
and know and feel that it is all well, that " I cannot drift be- 
yond his love and care." " There is no death, what seems so 
IS transition." God is love, but sorrow is selfish, and blinds 
us to the fact that our friends may be as truly watching over 
and loving us as if our mortal eyes beheld them." 

This called out Rev. J. B. Davis, who gave the speech of 
the evening, full of thought and lively interest. At a late 
hour, the company adjourned, feeling they had enjoyed a " feast 
of reason and a flow of soul." 




118 CLOVER BLOSSOMS, 

TO A CLOVER BLOSSOM. 



F 



LOWER whose dainty, sweet perfume 
Loads the pleasant summer air : — 
Like the breath of new made hay, 
Let me now thy charms declare. 



Modest in thy humble life 

Thou dost grace the quiet spot, 

With thy sweeten'd brightness cheer 
All the partners of thy lot. 

Honey bees ! they love thee well, 
Suck the sweetness from thy lips, 

Hoard them up for winter's use 

When the cold each floweret strips. 

And, when blooming turns to gray, 
And thy beauty fades away — 

Blest art thou in thy decay, 

Strengthener, healer, in thy way. 



THE PEOPLE'S RIGHTS. 



Abraham Lincoln when at one time strongly urged to sup- 
press a work of exceeding disloyalty, replied, " I fear you do 
not fully comprehend the danger of abridging the liberties of 
the people. Nothing but the very sternest necessity can ever 
justify it." 

We too believe, as must all who read the papers of the day, 
that there is fearful danger in the abridgement of the liberties 
of the people, more particularly of the feminine portion. 
They too often find it difficult to exercise the God-given "rights 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 119 

to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." These rights, 
which are called self-evident, seem but the more needful to 
Woman, in consideration of her less strong physical make, 
and her long-continued state of dependence. " A govern- 
ment," Mr. Lincoln further said, " had better go to the very 
extreme of toleration than to do aught that could be construed 
into an interference v\^ith, or could jeopardize in any degree, the 
common rights of its citizens." Besides the common rights 
to which we have alluded, are those which give their posses- 
sors a voice in the selection of their law-makers and executors. 
And these rights are considered as stays to patriotism, enabling 
each citizen to say and feel — " My country ! " 

But he speaks of the importance of not jeopardizing the 
rights of citizens. Worcester says a citizen is " one entitled 
to the privileges of a city, a freeman as distinguished from a 
foreigner or a slave." Must citizenship not then include 
woman ? They are not foreigners necessarily, and are not 
slaves, we trust. 

And if those in whose charge is the business of government, 
only realize the great necessity of not jeopardizing tlie rights of 
citizens, to whom can those who feel that they are suffering 
through the abridgement of rights come, with more certainty 
of consideration and help, than to that refuge from oppression 
which declares "all to be free and equal, and ^that taxation 
without representation is tyranny." vSurely, the resisters of 
taxation cannot become the enforcers of it on the disenfranchised. 
The oppressed cannot in turn become oppressors ! The 
whilom sufferers from rights abridged, cannot, must not, be- 
come the abridgers of the rights and liberties of others ! 

But you ask, why do not all or more women come forward 
to ask for equal rights and privileges ? It is not more strange 
than that the oppressed people, the ages through, have been 
wary in the expression of grievances. But the fact that multi- 
tudes of wise and thoughtful women do urge, and for years have 



120 CLOVER BLOSSOMS, 

most respectfully and earnestly urged it, it is proof that it is 
desired, and it is a petition which, for almost any other cause, 
would have been granted long ere this. Tennyson's grand 
heroic soul : — 

"Who reverenced his conscience as his King, 
Whose glory was redressing human wrong." 

is not fled the earth, though the brave Lincoln may not write 
another emancipation act, which is to give freedom to another 
so long disfranchised class : — 

" For right is right, since God is God ; 
And right the day must win. 
To doubt would be disloyalty, 
To falter would be sin." 

The day in which we live does not call for privileged or 
subordinate classes, " neither male nor female, bond nor free." 
*' Redressing human wrongs " which ignorance, custom or 
tradition have entailed upon us, will yet be seen to be noble, 
manly and God-like work, and wholly legitimate. The 
prayers of your nearly thirty years petitioners will not have 
been in vain. I would beg for the nobler, juster way. " That 
man, for manhood's sake, should give ungrudging, and not 
withhold till women must fight for it." As another has so 
well expressed : — 

" For 1 am not strong nor valiant; 
I would not join in fight, 
Or jostle with men in the highv/ays, 
Or stain my garments white." 

But I have rights as a woman, and here I rest my claim. 



CJ.OVER BLOSSOMS. 121 

TRIBUTE TO WHITTIER. 



B 



GET of the heart we thank thee, 
For thy life to freedom giv'n, 
For the noble sfelf-abandon, 
With which thou hast ever striv'n. 



For thy ringing blasts of censure 
When no other tones could wake 

From their lethargy of sin 

Those who found their all at stake. 

Moses of an enslaved people, 
Breaker of all selfish bands, 

Sweet deliverer singing freedom, 
Stayer-up of trembling hands ; 

Much has woman cause to thank thee, 

For thy sympathy sincere, 
Heart of brotherhood and pity 

Which could stay afflictions tear. 

Thou her truest, bravest champion, 
In the cause of equal rights. 

Stay ! till thou behold thy guerdon 
Man and woman " on the heights." 



A FEW DAYS IN MONTREAL. 



Leaving Boston by way of the Fitchburg Railroad, we pass 
lovely suburban villages and charmingly varied landscapes. 
As the towns and villages of northern Massachusetts are left be- 
hind, we suddenly become conscious that we are traversing a 



122 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

region of increased fertility. The country watered by the 
Connecticut is most lovely in beauty and verdure, and one who 
sees it wonders not that its mountains are called " Green." 
Indeed, so fresh and green and luxuriant are its hills and moun- 
tains and farms in the wealth of nature's blessings, that one 
comes to wonder how any who has ever been permitted to 
see these or similar spots, could ever endure the privation 
of poverty in a city, or the life of a homeless tramp. The 
comfort and thrift of the snugly-nestled homes seems enough to 
invite the wayfaring man, though idle and vagrant, to a life of 
use. 

It was dark and late when we reached Montreal, but we had 
caught many a lovely bit of landscape and a glimpse of Lake 
Champlain in its grand and quiet beauty. The wonderful 
covered Victoria bridge, which spans the St. Lawrence here, 
permits but a slight view of the noble river, for which my eyes 
were in waiting. 

We arrived safely at the station, and, weary and dusty, 
soon found, through the agency of kind friends, the needed rest 
and refreshment. 

On the morrow began our sight-seeing, with a view to the 
city buildings, rich and magnificent in style and material. 
Notre Dame, with its double tower, and wealth of paintings 
and stained glass, seems to transport one to the old country, so 
unlike is it to our ordinary church architecture. 

But, interesting as are the cathedrals and nunneries, and 
quaint costumes of the various nationalities, the most sublime 
sight to us was the view from the tower in the cemetery, 
where we could trace the course of the majestic river, the long 
lines of mountains in the distance, and the picturesque villages 
dotting the landscape. The air was chill and breezy, or we 
should have felt chained to the spot so rich in grandeur. 

Another most interesting trip is the ride to Lachine in the 
cars, and the sight of neighboring Indian villages across the river, 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 128 

and the return to Montreal by steamboat over the rapids. It 
is sufficiently rough and perilous, around by boat, to be thrilling, 
and to make one marvel at the skill of the pilot, who can find 
the safe passage amidst these rocks and breakers. You pass 
under Victoria bridge, and can scan its marvelous length of a 
mile and a quarter. 

A more enjoyable trip still, is a ride up the lovely mountain 
which flanks the city on the north, which has been appro- 
priated by the city for a public park, and is being graded and 
rendered convenient of ascent to the summit. The views of the 
city and river, which burst upon our view through the lovely 
forest trees which clothe the mountain, are magnificent 
beyond description. McGill College and the Theological 
University, as well as hosts of institutions, churches, towers, 
and the magnificent new Windsor Hotel, can all be plainly 
seen below ; also the Green and White Mountains, far in the 
southern horizon. 

So far we have seen no drunken persons ; and though occa- 
sionally a beggar has thrust forth a beseeching hand, at which 
we wondered, in this city of charitable institutions, still we 
have seen no loaferism, no holding on to street posts, and no 
all-day occupying of public-ground settees. The people seem 
industriously plying their vocations, however humble, in 
manifest content. Women oft-times were driving through the 
streets with loads of produce, or delivering milk, looking hale 
and hearty and, as we thought, somewhat heroic, on their high, 
two-wheeled dog-carts ; certainly they exhibited far more 
womanhood and helpfulness than if following the more com- 
mon calling of street-sweeping. 

We do not wonder that Montreal is proud of her beautiful 
city, so rich in local beauties and in suburban fertility. In 
another chapter we will write of Quebec and her approaches. 



124 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

A PRAYER. 



Dear Father thankfully we're led 

To own thy tender care 
Which all around us has been shed 

A bounteous gospel share. 

We would thy spirit humbly crave 

In each now waiting heart, 
That strong to bless and cheer and save 

The weakest may have part. 

Here may we in thy love abide, 

In harmony divine, 
The living Christ in us reside 

To make each temple thine. 



QUEBEC AND ITS APPROACHES. 



The regret which one naturally feels in travelling, that 
many scenes so rich in natural beauty must be traversed in the 
night, is somewhat modified by the fine view one has from the 
deck of the QLiebec steam-boat previous to and during depart- 
ure. 

The Custom-house, a fine building, is near, and shows 
grandly from the river, as do a host of mercantile buildings, 
and the fine sea-wall which protects the city from the river. 

Another good view of Victoria bridge ! We are informed 
that it lacks but about fifteen yards of being two English miles 
long, instead of one and a quarter as we stated. The remains 
of daylight afford one many fine views of Longueil and the dif- 
ferent settlements on the river bank, and give you a faint idea of 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 125 

the majestic St. Lawrence which is the outlet for so many 
mighty lakes and streams, and whose waters have so lately 
made the perilous plunge of Niagara. 

But you soon realize that the staunch steamer is bearing on 
a little world of its own, and, a moving palace, it is providing 
refreshment and rest, and relaxation for the lovers of music. 
From your customary sleep you are not disturbed in your cosy 
little state-room, unless you have the curiosity to witness the 
landings, which are made at Sorel, Three Rivers, and Batis- 
can. 

An early wake and walk on deck will reward you with lovely 
landscapes of the shores, which have left the low line of Mon- 
treal and have become high as bluffs. The frequency of 
buildings shows you that we are nearing one of the centres of 
civilization, and we shall soon behold the citadel city of Que- 
bec. 

Apparently almost impregnable by nature, it is no wonder 
that the early settlers seized on it for a stronghold in a time of 
conquests and of defence. The lower town is so over-shadowed 
by the upper one, that it seems to be mostly used as the heavy 
business part, and contains few^ residences comparatively. 

Most kindly favored with a friend and guide, we turned our 
steps to the Point Levi ferry-boat lying near, and soon found 
ourselves crossing the river to a situation much resembling 
Quebec in its lower landing and steep ascent to the upper- 
town. It seemed almost a problem which should gain the 
victory, the stout Canadian pony or the power of gravitation. 
But the summit once gained, we were well repaid, for a finer 
view of the opposite city cannot be had, with its battlements, 
citadel, churches and convents. 

A sweet New-England-like home refreshes us with its hospi- 
tality and culture, and we go to view the wonders of the op- 
posite city. Thankful that the almost perpendicular descent is 
not icy, v/e soon find ourselves across the ferry, and, after a 



126 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

similar steep ascent, arrive at the door of an old cathedral built 
in 1688, nearly two hundred years ago, in good preservation. 
The city vs^alls and gates have mostly been removed, and we 
walk around on the ramparts and occasionally seat ourselves to 
" view the landscape o'er." The Island of Orleans lies just 
below, green and beautiful. The opposite towns of St. 
Joseph and Point Levi rise like pyramids of beauty from the 
river's bank, and the river is grand and majestic .till lost in the 
distance. Then, to look nearer, you can let your eyes fall into 
the chimneys, yards and streets of the town beneath, so 
ancient and so quaint ! 

From these we pass on to the Esplanade, en route for the 
Citadel. Thanks to our friendly escort, we gain admittance, 
and pass within the fortifications, which seem vast enough to 
contain the inhabitants of the city, should it be necessary, for a 
short time. A group of men were on drill at a cannon, tactics 
which we fervently hoped might never be called into use. 
Every thing about is most neat and comfortable, with a pros- 
pect grand enough to make a man the better for, through sim- 
ple gratitude to its Creator. 

The next morning we take a carriage for the falls of Mont- 
morenci, and, though rainy, the outlook is interesting. The 
most pretentious building is the Insane Asylum, finely situated. 
The road is much of the time in sight of the St. Lawrence, 
and passes over a fertile country with comfortable looking 
houses, mostly plastered white. The view of the falls is ex- 
ceedingly lovely. The steps being too wet to permit a safe 
descent, our view was entirely from the upper level, and it 
seemed hard to believe they were 240 feet in fall. They sepa- 
rate in falling into several silver-like threads with shrubs and 
rocks between, and formed one of the most interesting objects 
we beheld in the oft remembered Quebec. 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



127 



REJOICE EVERMORE." 




H ! how brightly glows the sunshine 

On this blessed Sabbath morn ! 
Calmly, sweetly wave the tree tops 

And the blossoms of the corn. 
Smiling nature breathes new praises 

At the goodness of our God, 
Every living thing is chanting 

In its way a psalm to God. 



Shall I then withhold my tribute 

While His blessings still increase? 
Filling outward life with plenty 

And my inward life with peace? 
Never, while this fount is flowing 

As I think upon His love, 
Or within my heart is welling 

Gratitude to One above. 



From a world of weary sighing 

He has turned my wand'ring feet, 
Led me to a fount of cleansing 

Where I found a mercy seat. 
Breath'd away the dust and ashes 

That my robe might be complete, 
Gave me life from out of dying 

Show'd how death and joy might meet. 



128 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

Shall I then forbear to praise Him ? 

Never, while His way I see ! 
Never while His light is shining 

Showing duty unto me ! 
Never while His power constrains me 

To be pure and clean within ; 
Never while His love enchains me 

In the path that leads from sin. 



A PLYMOUTH OUTING. 



What more fitting spot for a woman suffrage gathering 
than Plymouth Rock? And what more eminently suitable 
day than one whose early dawn could give no promise of fair 
sky or golden sunshine ; but still, in its mild humidity was a 
most bland and gentle contrast with the day on which our 
fore-mothers set their weary feet on that same rock now so 
venerated. The Hyde Park delegation numbering five, was 
reinforced in Boston by Miss Pond, at Qriincy by Mrs. Claflin 
who has been such a faithful worker on the Qinncy School 
Committee, and Mrs. Faxon, whose husband, the doctor, has 
charge of the Seaman's Home at Wollaston. At Abington 
Station, Rev. Ada Bowles and others joined the company, 
while Brockton and the nearer towns sent in larger delega- 
tions. The only slight rain of the day was experienced when 
Plymouth was reached and the walk taken to Pilgrim Hall. 
From there all went to Lyceum Hall where the meetings were 
to be held. A large barge load of the company here embarked 
and proceeded along this same street (which is called Leyden 
street, and is the oldest in town,) towards the shore. We 
rode over Coles Hill, where the little colony of 101 laid away 
half of their number during their first year, through suffering 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 129 

and exposure, and, as the story goes, planted the spot with corn, 
that the Indians might not know how weak they had become. 
From there we started for the National Monument, the 
driver pointing out the site of the oldest house ; but, going 
down the hill, we came to the granite enclosure which protects 
the veritable rock on which the pilgrims landed, and on which 
May Chilton w^as the first to place her foot. We felt it a privi- 
lege to reverently press it with our hands as we thought of the 
heroic band who landed there. The National Monument, 
situated on quite a hill, commands a view of the harbor and 
beautiful surrounding country. Its crowning Statue of Faith, 
is w^onderfully sweet, considering its immense size. The 
raised arm, from the elbow to finger tips being eight feet in 
length. Several other fine figures of History and Art are on the 
pedestal, and on the sides of the central part are exquisite 
figures in Alto-rilievo on pui^e, white marble, of the signing of 
the compact. Our next object was Burial Hill, full of inter- 
esting and quaint memorials. Judge Russell's grave covered 
with fresh flowers, and its headstone of a granite boulder at- 
tracted our attention. 

We next wxnt to Lyceum Hall, where a refreshing lunch 
was partaken, and then a short walk taken to Pilgr'im Hall 
for a hasty survey of the relics which repose there. The fine 
large paintings of the Mayflower group, the chairs of Elder 
Brewster and Gover-nor Carver, the cradle wherein Peregrine 
White was rocked and other memorials glanced at, and our 
r'eturn to Lyceum Hall accelerated. Here we found quite a 
little audience assembled, and as the President of the Plymouth 
League who was to preside was detained, Mr. Weld was 
urged to accept the chair, which, by the way, was loaned 
by the Custom House oflicer for the occasion. But, in finally 
consenting to serve as chairman, he said he felt that man 
has heretofore taken all the best places and said quietly to 
woman, "you may retire." He introduced Mrs. Claflin as 



130 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

the first speaker. In commeneing, she said, it was pleasant 
to her to speak in Plymouth, for it would seem that the very 
soil and air must be full of the spirit of freedom. That 
we still have to ask for more after 250 years, seems a mar- 
vel, after considering the sufferings and heroism of the 
fore-mothers. She alluded to Elizabeth Poore who emigrated 
here on account of her religion, and who bought land and 
founded a colony for freedom of conscience. She thought 
that more of the same holy principle, would make women 
more earnest for the ballot, which is a so much easier way of 
securing results than the only way left to woman, — by petition. 
Man cannot represent woman. Those who bear the conse- 
quences ought to share in the antecedents. Her sensible talk 
was followed by an eloquent plea by A. E. Grirake, Esq., on 
the importance of using all the moral forces of humanity for 
the cure of the body politic. Mr. Weld's remarks were brief, 
as the time for return cut short the words the convention 
were so interested in hearing, and the pleasant. Plymouth day 
can only live in memory of its lessons of beauty and use. 



LYDIA MARIA CHILD. 



This grand woman, whose affiliation with the cause of 
abolitionism occasioned her fall from the ranks of polite litera- 
ture, which she had so early and worthily entered, is but little 
known in fashionable circles. Let us, therefore, give a picture 
of her as her friend and biographer, the poet Whittier has 
painted her in an introduction to a volume of her letters. 
She was born in Medford, February 11th, 1802, her father, 
David Frances, being a worthy citizen of that town. Her 
brother, Convers Francis, afterwards theological professor in 
Harvard College, was older but of great help in her home 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 131 

Studies. While only twelve, after reading Waverly, she ex- 
claimed — " Why can't I write a novel ? " Her first published 
work was " Hobomok " while she was in her twenty-first 
year. It succeeded so well that she soon after gave to the 
public another, ''The Rebels" which ran rapidly through 
several editions. Then followed "The Mother's Book," 
running through eight American editions, twelve English 
and one German, " The Girl's Book," " The History of 
Women" and the "Frugal Housewife," of which thirty-five 
editions were published. Her "Juvenile Miscellany," was 
commenced in 1826. Wendell Phillips says of her character, 
" It was one of rare elements, the finest fruit of New England 
theology, traditions and habits." There were all the charms 
and graceful feminine elements united with masculine grasp 
and vigor ; sound judgment and great breadth ; large common 
sense and capacity for every day usefulness ; endurance, fore- 
sight, strength and skill. But her admirable conscientiousness 
was more remarkable even than her lavishly endowed gifts. 
The success of her new books was so rare that the Boston 
Atheneum paid her the almost unique compliment of a free 
ticket of admission. But when her "Appeal for Africans" came 
out and she sent them a copy, her ticket was withdrawn. From 
being the most popular literary woman in the United States, 
the whole scene changed — obloquy and hard work, ill paid, 
followed. The name she had made a talisman turned to her 
reproach, and her life henceforth a sacrifice." Just the time 
when she wrote her charming romance of Philothea we can- 
not tell, but in 1836 she wrote to her brother, " I am very 
glad that you like Philothea. I have heard the echo of news- 
paper praise, but have not, in fact, a single notice. I am glad if 
this work adds to my reputation, because it will help to increase 
my influence in the Anti-slavery cause. It will be another 
added to the widow's fund for the treasury of the Lord. 
Every day I feel more thankful for a cause that carries me out 



132 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

of myself." In another letter, she says, " I know not how it is, 
but my natural temperament is such that when I wish to do 
anything I seem to have an instinctive faith that I can do it ; 
whether it be cutting and making a garment or writing a 
Greek novel." So perfect is her characterization of Greek life, 
that a professor of Greek in one of our colleges said, "' that it 
was impossible that she was not a Greek scholar." Whereas 
she knew nothing of Greek but the alphabet, but always loved 
the sound of it, she said. With all her taste for literature and 
heart so full of pity and kindness for the oppressed, she was a 
delightful home-maker, and her union with David Lee Child, 
Esq., was one of continued helpful and appreciative love. 
The " Ladies' Family Library" in five or six volumes, " The 
Oasis," " Rose Marian," " Letters from New York," ".Flowers 
for Children," "Isaac T. Hopper," "Romance of the Re- 
public," " Looking towards Sunset," " The Progress of 
Religious Ideas," and " Aspirations of the World " are some 
of her many published works. As a specimen of her generos- 
ity, Wendell Phillips says of her, " Her spirit was Spartan. 
When she had nothing for others she worked to get it. She 
wrote to me once, " I have four hundred dollars to my credit at 
my publishers, for my book on 'Looking towards Sunset;' 
please get it and give it to the Freedmen." She outlived her 
husband but a few years — missing sadly his companionship, 
— and passed away serenely, though suddenly. Lowell, one 
of her warmest admirers, portrays her generosity in his Fable 
for Critics. 

'^ There comes Philothea, her face all aglow, 
She has just been dividing some poor creatures woe, 
And can't tell which pleases her most, to relieve 
His want, or his story to hear and believe. 

As this little romance of " Philothea" is out of print and 
almost impossible to obtain, being in but few libraries, some 
of its charming bits must be in order. The book opens with 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 133 

a moonlit scene when " the earth was like a slumbering babe, 
smiling in its sleep because it dreams of Heaven." The two 
principal characters are Philothea and Eudora, who are en- 
joying '' the music silent to the ear but audible to the heart." 
" Philothea," she sa3's, " might have been a model for the 
seraphs of Christian faith, and the other an Olympian Deity." 
" What is it," says the former, "within us, that listens when 
there is no sound .f* Is it thus that we shall hear in Elysium.? " 
In such an hour as this Plato must have received the sublime 
thought, " God is Truth and Light is its Shadow." " Then you 
believe in a future existence," said Aspasla. Philothea replied, 
" that the simple fact that the human soul has ever thought of 
another woiid is sufficient proof that there is one, for how can 
an idea be formed by mortals unless it has first existed in the 
Divine mind ? " "A reader of Plato I perceive," said Aspasia. 
" They told me I should find you pure and child-like, with a 
soul from which poetry sparkled like moonlight on the water. 
I did not know that wisdom and philosophy lay concealed in 
its depths." 

" Is there any other wisdom than true simplicity and inno- 
cence?" asked the maiden. 

Another delightful scrap is from her description of a feast. 
Some one must be chosen to preside, so the chaplet was placed 
on the head of Plato, as the wisest. Plato, however, declined 
the honor and wished to tansfer it to Alcibiades, — the most 
beautiful, but the young man exclaimed, " Nay ! according to 
your own doctrine, O admirable Plato, wisdom should w^ear 
the crown since beauty is but its outward form." Thus urged, 
Plato accepted the honors, and, taking a handful of garlands 
from the golden urn, he proceeded to crown the guests. He 
first placed upon Aspasia's head a wreath of bright and varia- 
gated flowers, mostly roses. Upon Hipparete he bestowed a 
coronal of violets, regarded by the proud Athenians as their 
own peculiar flower. Philothea received a crown of pure, 



134 CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 

white lilies. Aspasia observing this, exclaimed "Tell me, O 
Plato, how did you know that wreath above all others was 
woven for the grand daughter of Anaxagoras ? " " When I hear 
a note of music can I not at once strike its cord?" answered 
the philosopher, " even as surely is there an everlasting har- 
mony between the soul of man and the visible forms of crea- 
tion. If there were no innocent hearts there would be no 
white lilies." Eudora is not represented in either of these 
extracts, she being rather the opposite kind of character from 
Philothea, but her course is finely portrayed in the book. In 
"Looking towards Sunset," Mrs. Child says, " I reverently 
ask His blessing on this attempt to imitate, in my humble way, 
the setting rays of the great luminary, which throws cheerful 
gleams into so many lonely old homes, which kindles golden 
fires on trees whose foliage is falling, and lights up the silvered 
heads on which it rests with a glory that reminds one of im- 
mortal crowns." 

Opening a book lately which clamed to be "Masterpieces 
of English Literature," we were introduced to thirty-nine 
authors whose works were considered under that designation 
— while room was given for only one woman — George Elliot. 
By this judgment, would a man who had accomplished the 
literary work of writing forty-five or fifty volumes, and a small 
part of whose correspondence forms another delightful volume, 
be left unrecognized in the literature of the day.? Then, too, an 
article of hers on the American war, entitled, "Supposed 
Speech of James Otis," is considered so fine a piece of oratory 
as to be used in highest schools for declamation. 

So much for her as a writer, and we have not touched the 
subject. While her greatest work partakes more strongly of 
Philanthropy. With small means and economical habits, she 
was continually doing for others. Garrison and Phillips, her 
coadjutors, lived to see the chains broken from the necks of the 
slave, and their toils appreciated and honored by a grateful 



CLOVER BLOSSOMS. 



135 



people, though both were just as enthusiastic workers for 
woman's freedom, and if still with us would be foremost in the 
struggle. But the sacrifices which Mrs. Child made for free- 
dom, and not only her's, but other noble women's like Abby 
Kelley Foster's, never seem to have gained the e-clat or appre- 
ciation which will most certainly be theirs, if this generation is 
faithful in the study and record of its heroes. She was so 
simple and retiring that probably she never thought but the 
love of those who knew her best was enoug-h. 




PART SECOND 




GLEANINGS 



THOUGHTS HEARD AND READ. 



REV. WILLIAM H. CHANNING. 




UNDAY forenoon Mr. Rich deliv- 
ered an uncommon suggestive and 
practical discourse on "• pressing 
for the mark of our high calling." 
The evening exercises commenced 
v^ith singing, and reading of script- 
ure and prayer by Mr. Rich. Mr. 
Channing read further from Ephe- 
sians with thrilling earnestness and 
solemnity. He then said that these 
glowing prophesies become this era of the Christian church. 
It is coming ! — this dwelling of God in humanity. There is 
an ever-present inspiration. Can you not catch the spirit of its 
infinite sympathies.^ It is as the very union of the child with 
its father. What is the gospel of today.? It is of a globe 
glorified by human instrumentalities ; a heaven here upon 
earth. To create this there must be deeper consecration ; more 
realization of the sacredness of the individual ; more purity in 
the homes, where man and woman should be as priest and 
priestess. 

The world is full of unsatisfied longings. Religion is the 
need, the centre of peace, the new bond of order. We want a 
new baptism of that same spirit which was in Jesus Christ; a 
new sense of humanity. We are standing at the open door, 
which, but for our animalism, would be open to reveal to us 
that work is worship. "We are members of one another," 
and living impersonations of the past. We need to feel the 



140 GATHERED LEAVES. 

force of that latent power, " Thou, Father, in me and I in 
them," which would lift us up to ne^v conceptions of human 
nature's possibilities, and new reverence for one another, — ■ 
the divine humanity in man, — until we "• arrive at the stature 
of the perfect man." 

The over-looking angels call upon us for greater victories of 
love, new santification, a new tenderness of love, greater puri- 
fication. Consecration and a life of prayer will help us cany 
up our avocations into a higher, purer plane ; overcoming 
all antagonisms and sordidness. Then shall we set a new 
example to the world, of the brotherhood of man, and of a 
risen and glorified humanity. A loving, trustful prayer, 
breathed from the lips of this beloved disciple in blessings on 
the worshipers. 

After singing "All hail the power, etc.," the crowded but 
almost breathless audience retired. 



THE THOUGHT CLUB. 



Tuesday afternoon the ladies of the Hyde Park Thought 
Club enjoyed the second of the very entertaining and instruc- 
tive parlor talks by Mrs. Diaz. Her theme was, " The Intel- 
lectual Development of Woman." She said woman must be 
broadened by enlightenment, she must be made to think. And 
woman's clubs and societies help to do this. Man must learn 
that he is not to dictate the manner in which woman is to de- 
velop, but she must be free to unfold m her own way, accord- 
ing to the divine possibilities within. Some valuable hints 
were also given regarding the training of children, which all 
mothers should hav^6 heard. Mrs. Diaz then illustrated how, 
in many instances, unenlightened love often worked more evil 
than good with the children ; how deception, emulation and 



GATHERED LEAVES. 141 

undue ambition are unconsciously developed, and although we 
consider it our duty to pray that swords may be beaten into 
ploughshares, the mother plants in her child the love of glory 
in that hideous thing called war, by teaching him to look upon 
parades of blazoned weapons and brilliant uniforms ; and re- 
gretted the action of one or two publishers in choosing a terri- 
fic battle scene for the frontispiece in children's magazines. 

In regard to clubs for women, Mrs, Diaz gave illustrations of 
their mode of working, the beneficial results they had already 
accomplished, and thought it a great benefit to women to 
occasionally get away from the petty cares of routine duties, to 
come together and have free interchange of thought upon edu- 
cational, moral and literary subjects; and the best method for 
this was a woman's club, established upon a high plane, where 
each might feel that it is an open breathing place for all, and 
from which each may return home more impressed with her 
accountability for development and the influence she exerts 
over those who come under her guidance. 



REV. MR. FERRY. 



" Our Friend, our Brother, r.nd our Lord, 

What may thy services be? 
Nor name, nor form, nor ritual word, 

But simply following thee." 

— Whittier. 

Rev. Mr. Ferry of Northampton, preached morning and 
evening at the Unitarian church. The text of the morning dis- 
course was from St. John, iii. chap, 11th, 12th, and 13th 
verses — " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we 
do know, and testify that we have seen ; and ye receive not 
our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe 
not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things.^" 



142 GATHERED LEAVES. 

^' Intellect or thought controls," he said. " By the power of his 
brain, man controls all the lower world, his superiors far in 
physical power. Mind power has triumphed over intellectual 
power. It is a power that is ruling the world to-day, ' a sur- 
vival of the fittest,' the superior of all miserable aims that end 
in self. If 3^ou wish to workout any results in God's kingdom, 
you must regard the laws that control there. By appropriating 
His life-giving power he calls all to his attributes of love and 
sympathy for others in kind, if not in degree. Oneness of har- 
mony with God, learning of Jesus, assimilation of divine force, 
brings into fellowship with God, so that these fine elements 
make one stronger and better. The poor man who has mas- 
tered the lesson of content has a far richer treasure to take with 
him to the future life than the man of great earthly posses- 
sions, but who can take none of them with him. He has be- 
come co-partner with God. That which has become experi- 
mental with you in your experience is yours. 



TEMPERANCE. 



A most interesting meeting of the National W. C. T. U., 
was held in Detroit, so full of choice things that we must give 
a few of the closing words of Miss Francis E. Willard's 
address. •' Beloved," she said, "we have given hostages, not 
to fortune, but to humanity. We are building better than we 
know. We stand not only for the cause of temperance, but for 
the diviner woman-hood that shall ere long bring in the era of 
' sweeter manners, purer laws.' We stand for the mighty 
forces which level up, not down, and which shall draw man- 
hood up to woman's standard of purity in the personal conduct 
of life. We are the prophets of a time when the present fash- 
ionable frivolities of women, and money-worship of men shall 



GATHERED LEAVES. 143 

find themselves confronted by God's hiojher law of a complete 
humanity resulting from 

' Two heads in council ; two beside the hearth ; 

Two in the noisy business of the world ; 

Two in the liberal offices of life ; 

Two plummets dropped, 

To sound the abyss of science and the secrets of the mind.' 

For the world begins to see that 

No lasting link to bind, two souls ai^e wrought, 
Where passion takes no deeper cast from thought. 

In all this 'wondrous battle let our motto be ' womanliness 
first.'" 

Mrs. Mary Hunt of Hyde Park, made several addresses 
before the convention, and was re-elected superintendent of 
scientific instruction on temperance in schools, &c. She also 
delivered the annual sermon before the convention Sunday 
morning, in presence of a full house and with excellent effect. 
The theme was, " The necessity of greater faith and patience in 
all reform efforts." The temperance work seems to meet with 
most encouraging success in the West and South, North and 
East. Shall it find the work here, so near the cradle of the 
heroic virtues, any less earnest and effectual ? We trust not, 
and that even the names of " wine and beer " shall not always 
flaunt their signs to show where they have freely flowed. 



AN EVENING WITH ALICE AND PHCEBE GARY. 



A very delightful season was enjoyed by the Thought Club 
at the charming home of the late Sylvanus Cobb, Jr. The presi- 
dent called the meeting to order in a few fitting words, giving the 
topic of the evening, and each member contributed something^ 
for the occasion. The spacious parlor was completely filled, 



144 GATHERED LEAVES. 

each member being allowed the privilege of inviting one 
friend. Mrs. Stone read a very interesting memorial of the 
Gary sisters, which showed that, like many other children of 
genius, they were not particularly favored by fortune in their 
childhood. They were born in the Miami Valley near Cincin- 
nati, Alice on the 25th day of April, 1820, and Phoebe on Sept. 
4, 1824. At the ages of 17 and 13 they began to write out 
the songs which seemed to sing themselves into being. 
Through the day thay would attend to the household duties, 
and in the evening study and write. The loss of their mother 
when Alice was but 15 years old, and the marriage of their 
father, after two 3^ears, to a Woman who thought their evening 
study unnecessary, tinged their earlier writings with a vein of 
sadness. In 1850 they visited the poet Whittier, who com- 
memor^ited that visit by his poem •' The Singer." Mary 
Clemmer, their most faithful friend and biographer, says, "that 
Alice was shy, loving, full of tenderness, and explains the 
romance of her life." In 1850 the sisters, with a younger one, 
settled in New York, hiring two or thre.e modest rooms, and 
commenced work in earnest. Horace Greeley was first among 
their callers. Then was written the first of " Glovernook 
Papers " by Alice. Then followed novels, poems and hymns. 
Six years after, Alice bought a pretty house, where they spent 
the remainder of their lives, and drew about them not only the 
best, but the most genial minds. They met every true woman 
with tenderness and every man as brother. The most power- 
ful trait in Alice was her passion for justice. The deepest 
longing of her life was to see human nature lifted from sin to 
holiness. On Tuesday, Feb. 7, 1870, she wrote her last poem, 
and five days after, passed from this life. Phoebe followed her 
the next year. She was called the wittiest woman in America', 
and was full of loving little ways. She had great faith in 
the good, and her poems are full of savor and healing. 

Miss Gole was next called upon, who read " The Sure Wit- 
ness ; " Miss Hanchett read " Reconciled ; " Mrs. Weld " St. 



GATHERED LEAVES. 145 

Bernard of Clairvaux ; " Miss Ella Cobb " Cloud Land ; " Miss 
Norton "The Ferry of Galaway ; " Mrs. Hanchett "A 
Woman's Conclusion ; " Miss Harding " A Parody on Mar- 
riage ; " Mrs. Mason " An Order for a Picture ; " Mrs. Payson 
" Uncle Joe ; " Mrs. Webster " The Singer ; "— VVhittier's 
tribute to xVlice and Phoebe ; Miss Pratt read " April ; " and 
Miss Minnie Cobb " A Living Presence." In the absence of 
Miss Karnan, Mrs. Leicester sang " Nearer Home," Mrs. 
Harding playing the accompaniment. Miss Pratt then re- 
marked that an honorary member had not been heard from, 
and the evening would not be complete without a word from 
Mr. Weld. He then replied that he was greatly interested in 
both the Cary sisters. Alice was gentle and quiet, rather 
reticent ; Phoebe witty and frank, with a ring in her laugh and 
a flash in her eye. I saw them first, he said, in their little so- 
ciety, where I was invited to speak, and was much impressed 
by a face I there saw — so self-poised yet so entirely unpreten- 
tious. I received a note inviting me to tea, but was called 
away from town before the time. Alice had a pleasant kind 
of wit. There was an abandon about her. Horace Greeley 
was remarkable for always going to sleep in church, and Alice 
made it a plan to sit by him and keep him spasmodically 
awake, by touching him when he commenced to nod. I spent, 
said Mr. Weld, perhaps an hour with them ; and his account 
was quite entertaining to the listeners, who, perhaps, had 
seen neither of the sisters nor Mr. Greeley. The length of our 
article forbids our mention of the many more impromptu 
speeches, which were rounded out with an elegant collation 
in the dining room, and the best wishes of the guests for the 
happiness and tranquility of their host and hostesses. 



146 GATPIERED LEAVES. 

JUSTICE TO WOMEN. 



The Boston Transcript^ speaking of noble wives, says that 
Mr. Seward's fame began to wane after the death of his wife, 
to whom he owed the vitalizing currents which bore him on. 
The Vicountess Beaconsfield is dead, and we shall now see how 
much the extraordinary Disraeli owed to the power behind the 
throne. How long must it be before great women can bring 
their powers to bear at first hand } We have had practical evi- 
dence that sometimes they bring them to bear with both hands 
— and most effectively, too. 



LIMITATIONS. 



Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots 1 
was the text chosen by the Rev. Hilary Bygrave. In eloquent 
words seconded by apt quotations from writers of fame and 
leaders of modern thought, he depicted the growing tendency 
of the age to have faith in limitations, and believe that if a man 
is born a boor or depraved, he must continue so. The effect 
of scientific research is so strong in this direction that some 
thinkers dread its effect on human progress and reform. 

Even Victor Hugo said, " if you would reform a man you must 
begin with his grandmother." The thought is a profound one 
for the consideration of those who are to be the parents of. the 
coming men and women. If a man would raise a fine horse 
either for speed or strength, he is most careful of his descent 
and conditions. Or if he would have a fine cow to yield the 
rich creamy milk, what care and pains are taken. In the rais- 
ing of the men and women of the future, should there be less 



GATHERED LEAVES. 147 

forethought and care? Thus science Is handmaid and ally of 
religion, teaching the noblest heroism and self-denial for the 
better unfolding and uplifting of humanity. 

The inherited tendencies which a man may feel, draw him, 
as he thinks, irresistibly to the intoxicating cup, but to such he 
would say, you also inherit a love of music or art, etc. Let 
that passion have control and "overcome the other with good." 
Bound and cramped as you may feel by an evil inheritance, it 
is your duty and privilege to rise into freedom from the low 
and debased, and to grow into the likeness of the Divine by a 
manly persistent overcoming; to "move upward, working out 
the beast, and let the ape and tiger die." 

Even our highest ideal, the blessed man Christ Jesus, was so 
fettered with conditions, that not until thirty years of age could 
he enter upon the ministry to which he felt called at twelve 
3'ears of age, but he grew in grace to a moral robustness which 
it is our blessed privilege to co^Dy. 



REV. J. N. PARDEE. 



The text was taken Matt, vii, 29, — "For he taught them as 
one having authority." "What was there" he asked, "so 
remarkable about Jesus that they were filled with awe.^ He 
had a new way of putting things, quite different from the 
teachers of his day. The scribes were the authority of the day, 
full of mystical lore. Jesus' method was one of common 
sense. He taught them nothing new, but by the simplicity of 
comparison with bird and flower, revealed the other world and 
resolved religion into very simple principles — ' love to God 
and the neighbor.' The influence of a great prophet moves 
the people of his time. What he says is subordinate to 
what he does. If he has accomplished great results, his 
followers magnify these and him and finally become dog- 



148 GATHERED LEAVES. 

matic. The church has lifted what was given as illus- 
tration or poetic metaphor into dogma. Science and law are 
cold, but Christianity holds up a pure ideal. We find none 
that pervades us with such pure reasonableness. In his own 
person, Jesus became ' the way, the truth, and the life/ 
He was practical, saying, "You see for yourselves. Not 
every one who saith unto me Lord ! Lord ! but he who doeth 
the will of the Father is accepted of me. ' " 



MARIA MITCHELL, 



The Nantucket Astronomer and Professor at Vassar College, 
was elegantly welcomed and honored at the New England 
Woman's Club lunch. She is looking well and brave, and 
her eye's light shines as brilliantly and as strong as though 
many years of star-gazing might remain to it. Many other 
honored lights were gathered at the welcome, and spoke their 
words of appreciation. They were beautifully and wittily in- 
troduced by the president, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, who also 
read a fine poem by Miss Alice Blackwell, which elicited 
much applause. Then followed delightful words from Mrs. 
Sewall and many others. Mrs. Kate Gannett Wells brought 
forward a petition asking that a matron be provided at the 
police station to care for the female criminals brought in, 
which was^quickly filled with signatures. 

Ruskin says, " The woman's duty, as a member of the com- 
monwealth, is to assist in the ordering, in the comforting, and 
in the beautiful adornment of the state, even as it is man's to 
assist in the maintainance, advancing and defence of the state." 



THE REV. MR. FLOWER 



Discoursed at the Unitarian church. The chapter in Matthew 
containing the Beattitudes was read for the scripture lesson — 
" Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God," — and 



GATHERED LEAVES. 149 

from John i, 18 — " No man hath seen God at any time, etc.." 
were his texts. " Although," he said, " an apparent contra- 
diction, it is reconcilable. The form of a friend whom we 
meet is not the real personalitjs so the spirit we call God is not 
cognizable to earthly senses. Love and beauty, justice and 
goodness, are nothing we can limit and see. Matthew Arnold 
describes God as ' the power not of ourselves which works 
for righteousness.' It is always above and beyond, for ' Your 
thoughts are not my thoughts, etc' Beasts and birds are 
individuals, but not persons. Common brotherhood, look- 
ing out for number two, instead of selfishness and monopolj^, is 
the only thing to prevent anarchy. We do not see each other, 
and the Infinite we cannot and never shall see. We conceive 
of him by our own ideas and according to the highest ideal. 
To the wise he is goodness and purity ; to the hard he is hard. 
As we grow more and more into his likeness, love springs up. 
We start from the known to the unknown. The better one 
understands himself the better can he know the Infinite mind. 
If you go to Boston and see only its fine buildings and narrow 
streets, you may come away not in love with it ; but if you 
enter the society of its great and good and beautiful, you know 
more, and you find we live in what we feel. This great 
outflowing of creation, which is ever seeking to put itself into 
expression — this personality has never been seen except in the 
pure and noble conduct that manifests it. Philip says, 
' Show us the Father. He that hath seen me, the spirit I am 
of, hath seen the Father.' Artists sometimes do wonderful 
work in painting personality. But the grandest glory of man 
as of God is Love.' " There were many nice points and quota- 
tions, and the sei*vice closed with a find rendering by the choir 
of the beautiful hymn : — 

" Our blessed Redeemer, ere he breathed 

His tender last farewell, 
A Guide, a Comforter bequeathed 

With us to dwell." 



150 GATHERED LEAVES. 

THE LUCY HAYES' TESTIMONIAL. 



0NE of the most interesting points in a former convention of 
women in Boston was the discussion on the matter of pre- 
senting Mrs. Hayes of the White House with a testimonial 
in appreciation of the noble stand she has taken in banishing 
liquor from State dinners and receptions. Mrs. Livermore in- 
troduced the subject and spoke of the courage it required, 
when, even Secretary Evarts said it would not do, but would 
give offence to foreign ministers. The reverse has been true. 
With that tact which is utmost talent, Lady Thornton, wife of 
the English minister, said, " What an exquisite flavor of refine- 
ment Mrs. Hayes brings to the White House, by banishing 
wine from the State dinners." The proposed testimonial is to 
be a fine, life-sized painting of Mrs. Hayes for the White 
House. Senator Edmunds said in reply to the question, 
whether it could be a permanency, that it would not be possible 
for any incumbent of the White House to remove such a 
picture of Mrs. Llayes, so beloved and honored. No, there 
was no reason in the world why we should not have it done, 
and he hoped that it would be a perpetual reminder to stimu- 
late women of culture and refinement to follow in her steps. 

Mrs. Livermore proposed to raise fifty dollars on the spot 
in five dollar pledges, — the individuals so doing to receive an 
engraved copy of the original painting. There was much 
enthusiasm and over six hundred dollars were pledged on the 
spot. 

MARY F. EASTMAN ON WOMAN SUFFRAGE. 



Mr. Theodore D. Weld, in opening the meeting, gracefully 
alluded to the fact that many years ago, sixty ladies of Hyde 
Park, went to the polls as a "testimony." One of that number, 



GATHERED LEAVES. 151 

he said, was present, and he moved that she be called to the 
chair. It was seconded and voted upon, and Mrs. Elizabeth 
G. Stuart gracefully introduced the speaker, who spoke of 
"Woman's position in the Republic." "Woman," she said, 
" was a problem. Every factor of society not an integral part 
of government was an element of weakness. This has been true 
of the Indian, the Negro, the Chinaman and the Woman. They 
are still measuring the woman's brain and think she has not 
got the " legislative faculty," but men vote, down to the van- 
ishing point of intellect. I claim that we come into the 
body politic because we are people. It is not a question of in- 
telligence or goodness. We are coming into politics with all 
our imperfections, having been losing the education men have 
been having through the ballot. Why don't women vote.'' 
Do you not remember how you have been telling us your fears 
and your sneers .'^ Home is sacred if you make it so, and so 
of government. Ours is a man's government. Men delight 
in calling women angels and the reserve forces. What is a re- 
serve worth which cannot come up to the battle when needed. 
Distrust of our government is often expressed by men. W^hy 
don't they make it a success.^ It is a masculine government, 
and if men manage the house it is not a success. Let us learn 
to put down both feet instead of hopping on one. The 
woman of today is doing a world of good, and in simple use of 
money, is a notable success, perhaps because she has not had 
enough to run away with. She should be a joint partner. 
Inequality of conditions causes uneasiness. Men don't intend 
to be unjust." The speaker gave an amusing account of her 
attempts to get the dog-tax for a new library by " indirect in- 
fluence " when a man who did not know a rose-bush from a 
weed could vote. Woman wants to be an integral part of our 
country. 



152 GATHERED LEAVES. 

REV. MR. NIGHTINGALE. 



" The women san.2^ 
Between the rougher voices of the men 
Like linnets in the pauses of the wind." 

— Tennyson. 

The Rev. Mr. Nightingale has supplied the Unitarian pulpit, 
during the illness of the pastor, with deeply interesting dis- 
courses and spiritual ministrations. Towards the close of his 
last Sunday evening discourse, he alluded to some remarks 
which Herbert Spencer made while in this country in answer 
to queries on our success as a nation. He replied that " it is a 
question of character rather than education. We need to feel 
the all-conquering power of truth more deeply and earnestly." 

PARLOR LECTURE. 

The Rev. Mr. Beach spoke before the Thought Club on 
Oliver Wendell Holmes, at Mrs. Dempsey's, 123 Fairmount 
avenue, Thursday evening, April 5th. A large number of 
members and invited friends were present and enjoyed a pleas- 
ant evening, while some who would have been interested were 
detained by previous engagements at the other entertainments 
of the evening. 

THE THOUGHT CLUB. 

Held its first regular meeting, since its change of place, at 
the residence of Theodore D. Weld, it having been for more 
than a year enjoying the hospitality of its founder and benefac- 
tor, Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart. The club, or part of its members, 
are now giving their attention to a study of English Litera- 
ture, under the guidance of Mrs. Clarke of Boston, who seems 
to thoroughly understand the subject. There was a large 
attendance on Tuesday, it being so warm and spring-like as to 
tempt many to enjoy the walk and fine weather. At the close 
of the session the ladies were favored with an introduction to 
an Indian Princess, 



GATHERED LEAVES. 153 



SARAH WINNEMUCCA, 



Who is seeking to interest people in the cause of her nation 
who have a reservation in the western part of Nevada. 
They have held this reservation, under the care of a number of 
different agents, who, instead of teaching the Indians the arts 
of peace — farming or education —just provide themselves 
pleasant surroundings and are careful not to have the Indians 
learn too much ; so that now, although they can move their 
lips and sing, they do not know the meaning of the words. 
She seems to have the kind of love and desire to benefit her 
people that actuated the great and good Alfred when he 
studied so hard to lift his people from ignorance and degreda- 
tion. Her affidavits and papers from General Howard, and 
others, at Washington speak of her in the highest terms. She 
seems like a thoroughly sensible woman, inspired with an 
earnest and unselfish desire to benefit her race. 



REV. MR. HUDSON. 



" Farewell ! ye flowers that bless 
The poor man's drear abode, 

Farewell ! 
And thou, O glorious Rose, 
My own sweet bridal Rose, 

Farewell ! " 

—John Westall. 

Rev. Mr. Hudson of Peabody, presented a familiar subject 
and passage of scripture in quite an original light, but most 
clearly and convincingly, the topic being, "The Use of 
Religion or What Shall We Have.?" This being the query 
of the disciples who were wondering what they were to gain 
by giving up all to follow the vSaviour. His reply was, " They 
shall receive an hundred fold and inherit everlasting life." 
The disciples seemed disposed to view the matter in the 
light of gain or loss, by which it is imj^ossible to estimate 



154 GATHERED LEAVES. 

moral and spiritual entities. As one might say, what is the 
use of flowers, or poetry, or the gratification of the aesthetic 
part of our nature! Their use is invaluable, although it may 
still be incalculable. It measures the difference between 
culture and barbarism. The "hundredfold more" of godd 
which the Saviour said would be theirs, is a possession which 
become one's own, of value which nothing earthly can destroy, 
— the soul qualities which are immortal and ever increasing." 



ROUSE TO SOME WORK. 



" Rouse to some work of high and holy love, 
And thou an Angel's happiness shall know, 

The good begun by thee shall onward flow 

In many a branching stream, and wider grow." 

— Chicago l^eekly Alagazine. 

From the same source we gather a few thoughts. What 
then is the impelling power that causes an educated woman- 
hood everywhere so seek for more opportunities for the ex- 
pression of educated faculties and for a greater share in the 
true work of the world "^ Why are women organizing in every 
little town and hamlet the clubs for social, literary and benevo- 
lent purposes .^^ Why are they interesting themselves in school 
systems and benevolent institutions and asking that their work 
and influence may be utilized in the boards that control these 
institutions.? Why are they.? Why indeed are they declar- 
ing that they want a voice in the choosing of law-makers, 
and also that women should have a share in administering the 
government. 

It is because they feel the impelling power of that immuta- 
ble of nature which demands scope. Rewarding activity is 
the only law of content ; it is the only condition in which is 
possible true repose of the spirit. 

CARLYLE SAID 

" There is a perennial nobleness and even sacredness in work. 



GATHERED LEAVES. 155 

The whole soul of a man is composed into a kind of real har- 
mony the instant he sets himself to work.*' Even Carlyle 
failed to recognize the fact that this grand, fundamental truth 
applied to women as well as men. Witness the unhappiness 
and discontent of Mrs. Carlyle. This is the truth that society 
is just waking up to perceive, and whose manifestations are so 
perplexing to thousands of good people. Men are so apt in 
the pressure of business and their own affairs to forget women. 
They say in a kind of a general way, " Oh, we don't want 
women to work. We will give them every thing they want if 
they will onW not be too progressive and strong-minded." They 
then go oft" to, their daily occupations and engage in them with 
the zest that comes from remunerative work, and their edu- 
cated daughters seek in vain for some mode of satisfactory 
expression for their cultivated faculties in the home. While 
so many avenues are opening for women's industry we cannot 
help believing that they may find some helpful and remunera- 
tive work, if that be the desire, for the time not necessarily 
employed in that most womanly and congenial work — that of 
home making. 

SCHOOL SUFFRAGE. 

The women of Boston are waking up on the subject of school 
suffi'age, and the Meionaon was well filled on last Saturday 
afternoon with women who responded to the call, to consider 
the attending dangers threatening our public schools. Rev. Ada 
C. Bowles, of Abington, said that women already have the right 
to a partial use of the ballot, and it was in their power to make 
their influence felt. Dr. Mary Safford thought there ought to 
be more moral instruction in the schools. Mrs. E. L. Mc- 
Laughlin acknowledged her mistake that through motives of 
delicacy she had abstained from the use of the ballot, but said, 
that she now felt that the time had come for practical work to 
begin. And she seriously urged the use of the ballot-box in 
securing wise and good school officials. Mrs. A. J. Gordon 
instructed the ladies on the necessary steps of applying to the 
assessors previously to September. 



156 



GATHERED LEAVES. 



AN EVENING WITH BROWNING. 



"After Adam Avork was curse; 
The natural creature labors, sweats, and frets. 
But after Christ, work, turns to privilege." 

— E. B. Broxvnhiz- 




an evening with 



HE Thought Club held 
Browning" on Tuesday, at the house of Mrs. 
Payson, Fairmount, whose doors have opened 
so freely of late to intellectual reunions. All 
the members, with one or two exceptions, were 
present and Air. Weld, an honorary member, 
was invited to call the meeting to order and 
j4^ speak of "The Poets." He declared that he 
knew next to nothing of the Brownings, except 
that they were both metaphysicians and well matched. It 
seemed to him that she is a master of thought and of words. 
He declined reading the poem of hers which was most familiar 
to him, in favor of Miss Karnan, who had made the same selec- 
tion, and who then read very sweetly and feelingly the touch- 
ing poem, "Mother and Poet," written after the news from 
Gaeta, 1861. Mrs. Hanchett read from "Aurora Leigh," 
the quaint but admirable picture of Aiu^ora's aimt — "She 
stood straight and calm. Her somewhat narrow forehead 
braided tight, as if for taming thoughts." Mrs. E. H. Webster 
read a quotation from Mrs. Browning's " Drama of Life," 
commencing with : — 

" Henceforward, woman, rise 
To thj peculiar and blest altitudes." 

Miss Harding rendered very finely some selections from " The 
Wedding Feast." Mrs. Weld read sweetly from the " The 
Dance," Miss Minnie Cobb gave delightfully "The Child's 
Thought of God," Mrs. Payson most finely rendered the 
beautiful poem of Mrs. Browning, "He Giveth His Beloved 
Sleep," reading most touchingly the closing verse : — 



GATHERED LEAVES. 157 

" And friends, dear friends, when it shall be 
That this low breath is gone from me, 

And round my bier jou come to weep, 
Let one most loving of you all 
Say, ' Not a tear must on her fall ' — 

' He giveth his beloved sleep. '" 

Mrs. Stoiie read from "Catarina to Camoens." Miss Ella 
Cobb gave "A man's Requirements," which occasioned much 
amusement. Miss Cole read some fine extracts from a memo- 
rial of Mrs. Browning by Theodore Tilton. It said she passed 
away after only six days' illness. She saw the heavenly glory 
and exclaimed, "It is beautiful!" and died. What she wrote 
of Cowper is also true of her. Not a nobler heart ever beat in a 
human bosom. Every succeeding book of hers showed an 
increase of power. True poets are knights-errant of the poor. 
The love of a great soul makes one stronger, and she saw 
visions and dreamed dreams full of comfort and inspiration. 
She conquered one with her loving heart. First out of sorrow 
and then out of love she grev^. Miss Hanchett gave "The 
Swan's Nest" and Miss Pratt read " Crowned and Wedded," 
the beautiful poem for Victoria the Queen, where occurs this 
couplet in her address to Prince Albert : 

"Esteem that wedded hand less dear for scepter than for ring. 
And hold her uncrowned womanhood to be the royal thing." 

Mr. Huxtable, who, with his wife, were among the invited 
guests, was urged to speak, and, professing his ignorance of 
Mrs. Browning, expressed his gratification at having gained an 
insight into her character through the selections to which he 
had listened. He amusingly referred to the name of our club, 
which at first had bewildered him but he thought in this 
materialistic age we cannot spend too much thought on the 
poetry which is elevating and inspiring. Mr. Stuart Weld 
then alluded to a sentiment by Mrs. Browning, which was 
underneath an engraving of Napoleon, viz., "The praise of 



158 GATHERED LEAVES. 

nations ready to fall, rest upon him." He spoke of how this 
prophecy of hers was fulfilled in the funeral services which 
were held in all the churches of Roumania, which had 
become a united kingdom instead of two principalities, and 
had abolished serfdom and other evils, after or in consequence 
of the Crimean war. 

The members and their guests then retired to the dining 
room, where a bountiful collation was provided, and the 
remainder of the evening was passed in discussing its merits, 
and in the enjoyment of the feast of reason and the flow of 
soul. The hostess and other ladies who took upon themselves 
the labor of entertaining, as well as all who contributed to the 
enjoyment of the occasion, have the satisfaction of realizing in 
the first club tea a pleasant success. 



REV. O. P. GIFFORD, 



In a late meeting, recited some of those beautiful lines of 
Browning's "Mother and Poet." He said, " What matter is 
it to the bereft of their beautiful boys, though conquering, if 
they ' have but their dead ? ' The home is the strength of 
the country, if pure and clean and sweet. Nothing is so de- 
grading and debauching to a community as an open saloon. 
' The woman who rocks the cradle rules the world ! ' No, 
she only rules the boy for a few years. When he outgrows the 
cradle he wants to do as father does, and he sees the boys and 
men in saloons, and father votes for license ; and so the 
mother's work is undone." 



LECTURE BY REV. MINOT SAVAGE. 



A reply to the query, " What we have a right to demand the 
world shall do for us ; or, shall we feel that it owes us a living 



GATHERED LEAVES. 159 

and all that is required for comfort and content." Emerson 
says, "Good bye, proud world, I'm going home," but he sim- 
ply retires to his quiet home. We may have been born ugly 
or without talent. Shall we become discontented and grum- 
ble.? No man commits a crime unless a discouraged spirit 
first takes possession, and then the characteristics of the bandit 
become developed, as far as may be, within the limitations of 
the law, through all dishonest and unfair means. 

Would we know whether the vi^orld does wrong by us, 
come to the cradle of the little girl. She may be beautiful in 
face and brain, or may lack all and be an idiot. Who is re- 
sponsible ? I.s the world to blame ? Some ancestor may be to 
blame — perhaps the parents — but not the world. 

The new comer appears, asking a place. In what way can 
she obtain what she desires, a house, clothing, and the ten 
thousand things necessary to her happiness and life? And 
now comes in just here the inexorable law of supply and 
demand. I must bring something the world wants, and in 
consequence get the things I want. I may make a stone wall, 
but if it is not wanted, my hard work is profitless. So of sing- 
ing talent ; unless I can convince the world I can sing, I can- 
not demand approval. 

The larger part of the evils we endure we can improve. Ill 
health ! who is responsible.? People with conscience will yet 
become so sensitive that they will consider ill health a crime. 
By our own negligence, stupidity and carelessness, we cause 
the greater part. What if the engineer did not study the 
mechanism of his engine, and laid its mistakes to Providence.? 
The most wonderful mechanism on earth most people are 
utterly ignorant of, daily and hourly abusing it ; and the 
wonder is unspeakable that it keeps so long in order. Ill 
health is responsible for more unhappiness than anything else. 
Dyspepsia and gout will spoil the most perfect surroundings. 

One source of discontent is in not being quite happy at 



160 GATHERED LEAVES. 

others' happiness. We must learn to live for those about us, 
and be happy because they are happy. The men who have 
stood for the truth found their happiness in doing for others 
and forgetting themselves. Like the sun giving out all the 
time, their life was constant self-surrender. The world is 
ready to give us everything we are ready to pay for ; and it 
bestows upon us the only thing we have a right to expect, 
which is opportunity : opportunity to build up our own char- 
acters, to serve our fellows, and make the world better and 
fairer and purer. 

HAWTHORNE ON WOMEN PREACHERS. 



Hawthorne was not a theologian, but he was a genius, 
gifted with what Joseph Cook names the first two tests of 
truth — Intuition and Insight — beyond almost any man of his 
day. This is Hawthorne's thought: " Oh, in the better order 
of things, Heaven grant that the ministry of souls may be left 
in charge of women ! The gates of the Blessed City will be 
thronged with the multitude that enter in, when that day 
comes ! The task belongs to woman. God meant it for her. 
He has endowed her with religious sentiment in its utmost 
depth and purity, refined from that gross, intellectual alloy 
with which every masculine theologigt — save only One, who 
merely veiled Himself in mortal and masculine shape, but was, 
in truth. Divine — has been prone to mingle it. — Oliver 
yohnson. 



A TOUCHING ANECDOTE OF VICTOR HUGO. 



Victor Hugo, when a youth of sixteen years, competed 
for the prize of the Toulouse Academy, whose poetic contests 
date from the Fourteenth Century. He won the golden ama- 
ranth for an ode entitled " The Virgins of Verdun," and the 



GATHERED LEAVES. 161 

^oX^en ^eur-de-lis for another poem on a designated subject, 
*' The Restoration of the Statue of Henry IV.," which had 
just been placed on the Point Neuf. This last poem was com- 
posed in a single night, and under touching circumstances, 
writes Barbour in his life of Hugo. Mme. Hugo was con- 
fined to her bed with inflammation of the lungs. Her two 
sons watched by turns. On the eve of the last day on which 
the poems could be sent to Toulouse, the suffering woman 
asked Victor, who was seated at her pillow, if he had thought 
of taking part in the literary tournament. He had been pre- 
occupied with his mother's illness, and had written nothing 
upon the allotted subject. When he saw the grief and disap- 
pointment of' the mother he loved with his whole soul, he re- 
solved to set about the work as soon as she fell asleep. He 
did so, and, when she awoke the next morning, he offered her 
his verses, which she read with tears of joy. 



REV. CHARLES NOYES. 



'* We can do nothing against the truth but for the truth, '* 
was the text of a discourse preached by the Rev. Charles 
Noyes. "All things," he said, " serve the truth." It is served 
even by the evil. We may exclude the light of truth and 
say, ' evil be thou my good,' and be guided by the senses 
instead of the soul. Truth is of God, and the strongest 
power, and what sustains error for a while is the truth stand- 
ing with it. When w^e learn through what crises truth has 
passed it should convince us that ' what is true will live.' 
What is truth? Not doctrine, nor creeds, but divine ideas 
and man must live by them." 

" WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION,'* 

was the subject of the morning discourse. John had long 
taught repentance and Jesus given his divine teachings of the 



162 GATHERED LEAVES. 

pure in heart who should see God and no stir was made, but 
when he called their learned teachers blind leaders of the 
blind, and taught that repentance and reconciliation should go 
before temple service, when he restored sight to the blind and 
ate with publicans and sinners, then under the plea of the law 
they were ready to kill him. The gospels are gospels of 
work. It is a delusion and a snare that our salvation can be 
worked out by another. All good work is holy. All are 
called to do the work that lies before them, for it is God that 
worketh in them. In the estimate of the street it is, how 
much is a man worth, that measures his success. Do the 
riches of benefactors prove their success, or the heart that 
prompted generosity ? The virtues that honored the position 
are the theme. Though apparently a failure to the people of 
his day, Jesus said he had done the work that was given him 
to do. All who go a little in advance are styled fanatics. But 
what has made them so ? the indifference of their contemporaries. 
When all are aroused and become fanatics, the evil is de- 
stroyed. Better be fanatics than indifferent. Calmness is 
good and so is caution, but we want none of these born of 
stupidity. But to be ones self and nobody else, to watch op- 
portunities and not wait for others. One would think that 
salvation was an undesired gift instead of a victory. 



HOME INFLUENCE. 



*' One by one thy griefs shall meet thee; 
Do not fear an armed band ; 
One will fade as others greet thee — 
Shadows passing through the land." 

On Thursday, June 21st, there was a basket picnic at the 
residence of S. S. Wilson, Esq., Pine Cliff Cottage, Dedham, 
by members and friends of the Moral Education Society of 
Mass. The day was lowry but quite a number assembled and 
spent a pleasant day in the delightful air from Blue Hills on 



GATHERED LEAVES. 163 

one side, and a stretch of woods on the other. Mrs. Caroline 
M. Severance, the first president of the association, was present 
with her husband, and full of sense and wit they enlivened the 
day. Their residence in California, to which they return in 
September, as well as their active lives in philanthropy, makes 
their conversation fraught with interest. Among the delightful 
persons present was a cousin of the poet Whittier, who gave 
us many interesting little reminiscences of the good Qiiaker 
poet, in whom we all claim an interest, and particularly his 
sister Lizzie whom he so tenderly loved and lost. The scat- 
tered groups gathered together at four o'clock and listened to a 
very thoughtful and interesting paper from Mrs. Caroline 
Dupee of Dorchester, on " Home Influence." She spoke of 
the necessity of the union of love and wisdom for a truly happy 
household, and that good fathers are nearly as essential as good 
mothers. Everything is daguerreotyped on the child. Macau- 
lay was an example of the effect of early training in a happy 
home, while Byron never knew what pleasant home influences, 
were, but grew up like a neglected garden. Goethe inherited 
largely from both father and mother. The paper was followed 
with a discussion on the subject, opened by Mrs. Kate Gannett 
Wells, the president of the association, and participated in by 
several of the ladies. Then carriages were taken for home. 

FLORAL SUNDAY. 

The Unitarian church was beautfully decorated with 
flowers, and the singing was delightful. "Beside the still 
waters," was the text of the pastor's remarks. " Thedemands 
of work are so great," he said, " that we fail to realize how 
vast are the silent changes going on in nature — the sun shin- 
ing with serene impartiality, etc. When the Nazarene said 
' the kingdom of heaven is within,' he voiced this idea. Not 
more is the beacon than the light that giveth light to all the 
household. Our hearts must be in unison. Cicero said, ' the 



164 GATHERED LEAVES. 

music of the spheres may be so loud we cannot hear it. The 
less God is in the senses the more he is in the soul.' Pythago- 
ras reviewed at night the day's doings. In the deeps of still- 
ness as well as in the action of the open hand and ready feet of 
helpfulness, is He to be found. The soul needs to use its finer 
instincts. Let us hold fast the faith of the ages — that God 
is the source and fountain head of all that is ennobling.** 



REV. MR. BUCK. 



" God is love, saith the Evangel ; 

And our world of vv^oe and sin 
Is made light and happy only 

When a love is shining in." 

— WJitttier. 

Rev. Mr. Buck led the devotions, seeking the aid and inspi- 
ration of the Infinite — "Thou who dost manifest thyself in all 
human heroism and saintliness." The full choir rendered 
most sweetly and feelingly the Lord's Prayer and other choice 
pieces and hymns. The text was taken from John x, 9, "I 
am the door, etc." What is the door by which we are 
to enter and find pasture ? When one has risen to faith and 
obedience it is an open door. We want some sense of the 
living soul of God, the eternal I AM. And we understand it 
through the mysteries voiced to us by the prophets and men of 
God. The light from within those doors which swing on the 
hinges of consecration, is perceived by the spirit rather than 
the understanding. It is by this divine consciousness, when 
opened in the soul, it may go in and find refreshment and nur- 
ture and quickening. To believe that God is in all things is a 
mental act, but to receive it is a spiritual one giving strength 
to suffer and be strong. Does God speak in nature.? Much 
more does he manifest himself in the sublime spirit and words 



GATHERED LEAVES. 165 

of Jesus Christ and in human acts and words. In the compas- 
sionate and kind He is the source. He is the ever present 
God revealing himself in all heroism of suffering men and 
women and Christlikeness wherever found. 



GEMS FROM SUNDAY SERVICE. 



" Jesus" said Rev. John D. Wells " had faith in human 
nature, and the sure victory of the right ; in man's ability to 
meet and overcome all evil. Do the good deed and it will 
cheer and charm the world. Evil is not brave ; for a little 
while it seems so, but essentially it is a coward. It cannot 
bear the truth. It cannot look up in the light, but it dies and 
is not. But men have not half faith in this triumphant power. 
Darkness is chased away by light. The sun is the one ever- 
lasting purifier. Live our lives aright and let our light shine. 
We are cities set on a hill. It is only for us to be the true 
children of the right ; positively on the side of justice and 
right, and the kingdom of darkness will shrink away from us, 
and the kingdom of heaven come." 



THE STUDY OF HISTORYi" 



Rev. Henry Blanchard on the " Study of History." Forty 
years ago the term "Culture" implied the same as science, 
which has for twenty-five years superseded it. But we need 
a broarder, rather than a narrower word. History, more 
than any study, is a help to culture. An acquaintance with 
noble life in the past makes us desire nobler living. This 
opinion is shared by Dr. Barnes Sears and many educa- 
tors. Eighteen hundred years before Christ began the only 
authentic history, and that was confined to the borders of the 



166 GATHERED LEAVES. 

Mediterranean Sea. History develops the powers of atten- 
tion. Margaret Fuller said, " It seemed as though some peo- 
ple never have awakened, so little do they observe." It de- 
velops the power of memory in order to hold what we see. 
All master minds have memory largely developed. Dates, 
and downright hard work at mastering them, will help develop 
it immensely. 

It also develops the power of judgment. By questions 
mind is made to think. What was the influence of Moses, the 
law-giver .f* of Julius Csesar, or the Adams of our own coun- 
try.? Newspapers are history, and afford us grand means of 
knowing the noble minds of the present. Latin, trains most 
admirably in developing the intellect. Classical scholars 
show a more critical acumen than others. Interest in human 
v^ell-being shows that our towns are suffering for the want of 
trained men — more thoughtful, able men of judgment, capa- 
ble of thinking strongly, clearly and persistently. 

Imagination is in reality the highest faculty of the human 
mind. Goethe, the poet, discovered that flower and bud are 
only modifications of the leaf; that the skull is but a modified 
form of vertebrae and though ridiculed then it was ere long 
recognized by scientists. 

He, only is broad, who honors all men and puts himself in 
other's points of view. In doing this he sees the solemn facts 
of life and becomes charitable while he utterly dissents. The 
mental pictures made upon the mind become almost indelible 
to the imagination. 

History feeds thought. Uncultivated people think that 
ideas are their own, while the student of history knows that 
they have been used time and again. If the working man 
who thinks the city should provide for his wants only knew 
that the same thing has been acted over and over in the past, 
but with the same disastrous results he might be warned ; and 
develop his own resources. There is hardly a notion that 



GATHERED LEAVES. 167 

has not been in the past. A most helpful book is " Culture 
and Religion," by Professor Shadd. To information it adds 
inspiration. Taking the great epochs as we study the record 
of the past, we think what noble, heroic souls ! and regret that 
our own lives are so little. These leaders will, by the con- 
sciousness of what they were and what we are, stimulate us to 
progress. The times are steadily improving under the infinite 
power of goodness. History makes men believers, for back 
of all we see One who ever rules and loves. The splendid 
clear delivery of the orator made it a rich treat to those so for- 
tunate as to be present. 



REV. JOHN D. WELLS. 



'* The world's great order dawns in sheen 
After long darkness rude, 
Divinelier imaged, clearer seen, 

With happier zeal pursued. — Matthew Arnold. 

Tpie Rev. John D. Wells preached at the Unitarian Church 
last Sunday from the text, " The Spirit giveth life." — 2 Cor. 
iii, 6. He said, "Within the outward form is the essential 
Christianity, within the church visible which changes, is the 
church invisible. We wonder why it has not done away with 
theological wrangling, leading men to dwell more on the ideas 
which unite them, than those which divide. For centuries 
and up to this day is Christianity shaking itself clear from the 
literal. The test of membership in the everlasting church is 
not belief but life. With some it is difficult to regard as breth- 
ren any who differ by a hair's breadth in belief, but just as 
soon as we see that Christianity is not a creed or belief but life 
and spirit, the clouds which have hung so long vanish. No 
longer do we regard humanity as so many differing points, but 
as one. Living Christianity is one. Boundary lines have no 
essential existence. The living church counts also its mem- 
bers outside. 



168 GATHERED LEAVES. 

It not even begins with Jesus Christ, but dates from the 
earliest moment when men began to search after God. It 
identifies itself with unselfish love which no Christian creeds 
can bound of whatever nation. Nor does it hesitate to ac- 
knowledge those outside who seek truth with honest purpose. 
Everywhere it welcomes its own in spirit more than in exter- 
nal form. This is the view of the future to which the wisest 
and purest minds are coming. Orthodox divines admit the 
possibility of an essential Christ for the salvation of those who 
have not heard of the real Christ. I feel that the children of 
God are bursting the bonds of creed, of fear, and looking their 
loving Father in the face. The spirit and character is the in- 
quiry instead of the query, ' are you a Christian ? ' In quiet 
homes the seed of that kingdom which grows without observa- 
tion, have been starting. God has never been defeated suc- 
cessfully, nor his world moved backward. The days in which 
we live are the most Christian days that ever were. Our very 
discontent with them is proof of the desire to rise to higher 
attainment in righteousness. Never did hearts more fully burn 
to help the fallen and give sight to the blind. Let us take 
courage, strength and faith, giving ourselves to the leading of 
the best, the spirit of life, the one pure tribunal. We may 
well set store by our church, only let us not make the mistake 
of putting the show for the reality. The spirit that giveth life 
is the first question to put to our souls. Help us, O our 
Father, to give ourselves to the life for which we were created, 
and may we dedicate ourselves from this hour to the service of 
the spirit." 

The evening discourse on the Kingdom of Heaven was pro- 
nounced by those who had the privilege of hearing it as supe- 
rior to that of the mornins:. 



GATHERED LEAVES. 169 

HUNGERING FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 



The Rev. S. C. Beach of Dedham, preached on the fifth 
chapter of Matthew, sixth verse. '' Blessed are they which do 
hunger and thirst after rio-hteousness ; for they shall be filled." 
Righteousness has been misinterpreted to be a certain kind of 
goodishness. It is too good to be spoiled, for it stands for the 
very best things. Righteousness, in a man, makes a right- 
wise man, a straight man. We have a realizing idea of a 
straight line, and a straight line in morals is righteousness. 
There are people whose sense of the geometrical is so exact, 
that they detest the slightest divergence. It is possible to have 
the moral sense as exact. It ought to be less possible to con- 
tent oneself in a mental abberation. There are those who 
would sooner fiice ruin than take a cent more than their due, 
as the man who walked miles to return an over paid sum. It 
was some such act that won the title " honest Abe," for our 
departed president. They are not over many who would put 
it to another's account to be paid another day. Righteousness 
yields to no compromises. A thing is never partly so and partly 
not so. There is no borderland to truth. What is not truth is 
false, for there is no middle ground. Whether we are stating 
facts or a proposition, to come within two twentieths of the 
truth is not the truth. Exactly as they are or seem to us, is 
truthfulness. Truth is an absolute straight line. There is a 
strong bias to receive nothing but what is agreeable, and 
another to round it off and so give it an air of respectability. 
Or, suppose one is free to tell the whole truth. 

LANGUAGE IS A DIFFICULT INSTRUMENT, 

and he is a wise man v^dio tells the exact truth. The law of 
kindness also runs by a strict rule. There are some so 
naturally kind that it would lacerate their hearts to think they 



170 GATHERED LEAVES. 

had hurt a soul, and others to whom this instinctive sense has 
not been given, but they have achieved the fact of coming 
into Hne. It is easy to be kind when we love to be, or when 
we have nothing to do, and when it costs us nothing, but dif- 
ferent to be unalterably kind under all circumstances. These 
things indicate how straight are the lines that constitute right- 
eousness. It would be helpful if we could look above us and 
see the whole ranks who are holding an evidently high stand- 
ard. Isolated examples we find, and confront ourselves with 
the inevitable standard. Show me a life in which the moral 
sense is dim and shadowy and I will show you a life barren 
and contemptible. There are those who " hunger and thirst 
after righteousnes," whose lives are rich and deep, and they 
will have that self respect w^hich will sustain them. They 
may not always win the favor of those about them, but they 
Mall have the satisfaction and pleasure of knowing that they 
are in harmony with the Eternal, and their spiritual hunger 
will be fed, as the poet has said : — 

"The fathers had not all of Thee; 
New births are in thy grace. 



REV. BROOKE HEREFORD. 



In an excellent and instructive sermon on the bible, Rev. 
Brooke Hereford says, " The Bible wants not merely read- 
ing, but studying The new heart of this age is 

no heart of unbelief. It is quick to respond to a grand 
thought, to a live spiritual impulse. Let a real prophet speak, 
and his words find a ready echo. But we are too dependent 
on such impulses and surroundings of the hour. They are 
ever changing, and so is the religious life that rests on them. 



GATHERED LEAVES. 171 

To-day, a man feels ever so good, his faith a bright, happy, re- 
ality. To-morrow he may be telHng that he ' cannot see that 
religion amounts to much anyhow.' No ! But it would not 
be so if people kept in true wholesome fellowship with the 
piety of long past ages. I believe that what is needed most 
of all is a wholesome, hearty revival of Bible reading and 
study." 

CONSCIENCE 

was the subject of Rev. Mr. Rich's discourse, last Sunday, 
from the text, '' That was the true Light, which lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world," John i, 9. After defining 
conscience he proceeded to speak of its reality. If a man has 
being and a soul he must have conscience. Every act that 
sets it at defiance tends to harden and deface its keen sense 
of right and wrong. The excellence of religion is that it 
makes conscience an individual thing and fosters the suprem- 
acy of its enlightened monitions. Duty becomes a pleasure. 
The same standard of right, in politics, as in church and the 
home, would do away with the necessity for civil service re- 
form. When true to conscience the character becomes re- 
fined. We call it the divinest faculty, but it is the verdict of 
the whole. To do the will of God is to know the doctrine. 
What deeper abyss than a hardened conscience ! " The ser- 
vices were held in the vestry, the church being in the midst 
of the work of putting in the new organ, and the choir lent 
their efforts to make it a pleasant and inspiring season. 

MRS. ANNA GARLIN SPENCER, 

the sweet speaker and strong reasoner, preacher and writer, 
who, it seems, is also a poet, wrote a beautiful song, which 
the Euterpe Qiiartette rendered very finely, so much so that 
one gentleman presented each of the singers with a five-dollar 



172 GATHERED LEAVES. 

^old piece after hearing them sing " Street Merchants." After 
crying, " Everything you wish to buy " she says : — 

But one thing sacred have T kept, 
Though many tempters in have stepp'd 
To buy, or steal it if I slept : 
'Tis hard to keep it. 
But, though I want, or starve, or die. 
No one shall ever hear me cry : 
" My truth for sale — who'll buy.? Avho'll buy.?" 



REV. H. BADGER ON WHAT IS TRUTH. 



Last Sunday's service at the Unitarian was conducted by 
Rev. Henry C. Badger, of Cambridge, the choir rendering 
efficient and delightful aid. The texts were from I. Timothy, 
V. 8. "But if any provide not for his own, he hath denied 
the faith and is worse than an infidel," and Pilate's question 
to Jesus, "What is truth.?" If he had said God is truth, it 
would only have been putting the question further back. The 
denial of the faith in not providing for one's own, means a 
spiritual provision, a duty awaiting fulfillment as of providing 
for the incoming people of this most wonderful country. This 
life is all perfectly filled with illusions ; we think it is all there, 
but it is in the mind. When we think the senses are true we 
make the great mistake of our lives. The call of every heart 
for the truth is one that every child can receive better than the 
most intellectual. Jesus said, " I am the truth : there is a love 
that has no selfishness, but is pure and faithful ; that truth is in 
me." The graces are formed of truth as well as the virtues. 
With the most absurd superstitions and creeds we see devout 
feeling and consecrated purpose, and they are sanctified by 
their sincerity. The roots of the tree look to the top ; their 
vitality is not in the soil but in the sun. God is that on which 
we rely and trust ; a vanisher of fear, a conqueror of self. 
The truth of God is one, for God is love. Then was sung the 



GATHERED LEAVES. 173 

beautiful hymn " Send clown thy truth, O God, thy living 
love. " In the evening the scripture lesson w^as upon the word 
Grace, " For by grace are ye saved," which occurs one hun- 
dred and fifty-six times in the Bible, with the significance of 
charity, "Love your enemies; give to every one; do as ye 
would have others do to you, for if ye love them which love 
you what grace is there in that act? Sinners do that ; but love 
your enemies, be kind to the evil and unthankful. The origi- 
nal language bears this interpretation. The choir then sang, 

" Bring thy heavenly kingdom near, 
Be thou all our hearts desire." 

The speaker said it appeared to him that the reform of the 
reformation is to recover words that have been degraded in 
their meaning — "Salvation by grace." We do believe in 
salvation, for it is something we all need and v/ant, a security 
agamst all perils, a thing of to-day, a security because of 
proper conditions. Spiritual wealth, on what does it rest.^ 
We are getting to have a perfect faith that, although the whole 
should go to decay, we are in the hands of One who can take 
care of it all. Though some in their limitatians of faith may 
say as they look up, " I do not know you," the answer seems 
to come back. "I know you don't, but I bless you." As 
Sojourner Truth said, " when she gave up the conception of the 
old man in the clouds, she saw, as it were, a great ocean of 
truth and we the little fishes in it." We have mental pictures 
and idols which are only images to be destroyed. The 
thought is, that we should be afraid, not of die malady of 
sin, but of the remedy, and that by some favor or lobbying 
we can gain what others are not to have. But the idea of 
grace is best conveyed by the yearning of the mother heart in 
infinite solicitude and care, shining with a fostering power 
and winning tenderness. The response to this is our safety. 
Grace means salvation, and man's grace is the responding 



174 GATHERED LEAVES. 

glow, the burning affection and exchange with the divine lov- 
ingness. It is a gift, and not a reward. In this confidence, 
when asked is life worth living? we ask, is yours? is Jesus 
Christ's? We must take it home and make it so. " Know 
my soul thy full salvation" was then sung. "The Lost 
Chord " was finely sung by Mrs. Cooper before the service. 

WOMEN AND SCHOOL SUFFRAGE. 

Thirteen votes were cast by them. A number refrained 
from voting because there seemed to be no point of sufficient 
importance, no woman candidate being presented. The W. 
C. T. Union were busy all day with their " no" ballots, and 
hot coffee for the boys who needed it. A few songs in the 
afternoon was all the service they attended at their headquarters. 

THE THOUGHT CLUB 

passed a charming season of study Tuesday afternoon, at the 
home of the president. Miss Ella Cobb gave an interesting 
report of the last meeting. Mrs. Hanchett read extracts from 
Parton's graphic " Life of Joan of Arc," and Mrs. Webster 
read extracts from "James," showing that Joan's earnest desire 
after the siege of Orleans and the coronation of Charles, was to 
return to her simple home and dress, but that her wishes were 
overruled by him who proved so ungrateful in her calamities. 
Miss Teele read a grand, noble tribute by DeQuincy. Miss 
Pratt and Mrs. Payson gave delightful testimonials from other 
authorities, and an interesting discussion closed the hour. 



TALLEYRAND AND ELIZBETH C. STANTON. 



" Only a drop in the bucket, 

But evei-j drop will tell ; 
The bucket would soon be empty 

Without the drops in the well." 

THE VOTING WOMEN 

Have some of the best and strongest authority in the world to 



GATHERED LEAVES. 175 

encourage them in their comparatively new and singular un- 
dertaking. Talleyrand says, "To see one-half of the human 
race excluded by the other half from all participation in gov- 
ernment is an anomaly which, according to abstract principles 
of right, it is impossible to explain." 

MRS. ELIZABETH C. STANTON, 

Speaking in Washington at a recent meeting, is described as 
venerable in appearance and sweet as a rose. Motherhood she 
glorified as the divinest function. Man might more reasonably 
be considered possessed of disabilities, because he never can 
become a mother. " At another time " she said, " it is with 
infinite sorrow" that I see earnest women wasting so much en- 
thusiasm on intemperance, polygamy, prostitution, — all out- 
growths of woman's degradation, — instead of utterly and 
completely repudiating the idea of her divinely ordained sub- 
jection wherever they find it, whether in state or church, in 
codes or canons, in statutes or scriptures. If one generation of 
women would take the initative in active crusade against the 
monstrous ideas that woman was an after-thought in the crea- 
tion, the author of sin, made especially for man's pleasure and 
convenience, her sex a crime, marriage for her a condition of 
slavery, and maternity a curse, and demand of the state and 
church an expurgated edition of Blackstone and the Bible, 
placing the mother of the race on an even platform, at least, 
with her sons, polygamy, prostitution and intemperance 
would soon receive their death blow. When government 
refuses to enfranchise women they degrade those who are their 
peers in knowledge and understanding, infinitely more than 
do the Mormon apostles, the ignorant type of womanhood 
they import from the old world. The basic idea is the same 
in both cases. 



176 



GATHERED LEAVES, 



MRS. LIVERMORE ON OUR GIRLS. 




HAT shall we do with 
our girls ? She alluded 
'~' to the disabilities 

which have always embarrassed 
the lives of the girls. When 
little, they could not be out of 
doors and play and romp as 
the boys could, because their 
delicate clothes would be spoiled and 
their life was one of constraint and limitations. 
We owe it to our girls that they shall have 
plenty of air and sunshine, good warm clothing, 
and boots that do not cramp their tender feet. 
Let them have no corsets to squeeze their pliable 
bones and muscles and internal organs ; cer- 
tainly ^not before twenty-five. When through 
with school they should have some occupation just as really as 
the boys, and not be expected to sit aimlessly and indolently 
in their bark waiting for the coming man to bring them home 
and happiness. But they should be possessed of energy and 
skill enough to manage their own bark and should another 
come along to share with them the voyage of life, they would 
be but the happier and more successful for the mutual helpful- 
ness, particularly if accident or disease or death should afflict 
them. 

We cannot do justice to her clear, impassioned words, so 
full of good sense and lively sallies of wit, and occasional 
bursts of eloquence. When alluding to her work in the sani- 



GATHERED LEAVES, 177 

tary commission she gave us a picture thrillingly fearful and 
tragical. Here they were ministered to by such women as she 
with heroic heart and purpose and a loyalty the most profound, 
and now this same country after giving the ballot to the slaves 
for whom these battles were fought, waits and hesitates and 
deliberates whether it will do, to give these women the fran- 
chise. But she did not say this, only we thought it while 
listening, and how hard it must feel to her noble, queenly 
spirit to keep knocking so many years at barred doors. 

But her great motherly heart was telling us this story of the 
soldiers for its moral. For she said, " Let us not do so with 
our girls ; let us not send them out into the great battlefield of 
life with no better preparation ; relying on a father's or a 
brother's or even a husband's care, but let them be secured the 
helps of good health, good educa^tion, and good morals to make 
them invincible in the warfere which awaits them." 



AN EVENING WITH WORDSWORTH. 

Mrs. Payson provided her friends with another delightful 
entertainment. Henry N. Hudson, L. L. D.,* gave a talk on 
Wordsworth in his own racy and inimitable style. Evidently 
a great admirer of this poet, he calls him the great philosophi- 
cal poet. "You have got tired," he said, "of hearing him 
called the poet of nature, but there is no great poet without 
he sees the intimate connection between internal and external 
nature. Nature is the pulsation of the life of God from which 
we draw life and force. 

WHAT IS THE USE OF POETRY ? 

To amuse? Truth and wisdom are not the things to amuse 
the trifling mind. In the olden times, poets were seers and pro- 
phets and were in communion with the angels, and the Divine 
voice was in their words. They carried themselves accord- 

* Since deceased. 



178 GATHERED LEAVES. 

ingly. Poetry is the profoundest of ail writing, and yon may not 
separate it from the moral. How can poetry live out of the 
sunshine of moral beauty? " Lalla Rooke " is a very dressy 
poem ! Style is not a substitute for thought, only a sort of 
musical embroidery. 

A great composer begins with a thought and then expresses 
it in language. Shakespeare had thought, and that is the rea- 
son that no plagiarist could move him from his anchorage. 

ODE TO BEAUTY. 

He also went to the Elysian fields of description and read 
several of Wordsworth's sonnets, of which he wrote five hun- 
dred. These were steeping the soul full of spiritual beauty. 
"Men who have lived pure and benevolent lives become beau- 
tiful in the face," said the speaker. 

At the close of his remarks, Gen. Carrington, Prof. Buckler, 
Prof. Raymond and Prof. Churchill, all made interesting re- 
marks, assigning the poet the place next to Shakespeare and 
Milton, which Arnold accorded him. 



HENRY WARD BEECHER 



Says, " two ejements are needed to exalt politics from the low 
level at which they now exist — the influence of women and of 
a faithful pulpit." Lord Brougham says, "If there is any 
weapon once taken from the armory which will make victory 
certain, it will be, as it has been in art, civilization, literature and 
science, — summoning women into the political arena ;" and 
Benjamin Franklin said, " They who have no voice nor vote in 
the electing of representatives do not enjoy libertv, but are abso- 
lutely enslaved to those who have votes, and to their represen- 
tatives ; " and Gail Hamilton wittily says, " If men are so bad 
that they cannot be trusted to vote w/z'/z women, is it beyond 
question that they ought to be trusted to vot^for women.?" 
" The nineteenth century is to be the woman's century," said 
Victor Hugo. 



GATHERED LEAVES. 



179 



TESTIMONIAL TO THEODORE D. WELD ON 
ENTERING HIS EIGHTIETH YEAR. 




fully 
tion 



OME of the friends of Mr. Weld, 
hearing that it was the anniver- 
sar}^ of his eightieth birthday, 
earnestly desired to give him 
some little testimonial of their love and 
respect, and as they knevs^ his aversion 
to all fuss and parade, they contrived 
a little surprise. Occurring on the 
evening of the singing school, it must 
necessarily be late in the evening. 
At the close of the lesson, Prof. 
Batchellor told them it was Mr. 
Weld's birthday, and three cheers 
were given and an escort home prof- 
fered him. But when, on reaching 
there, he found the large parlor filled 
with guests, and light and flowers, his 
astonishment was great, and, as he 
pi acknovvledged, his surprise complete. He hap- 
pily and joyfully greeted all and accepted their 
congratulations, and, ere he had taken time to rest 
at all, he commenced with his well-known readi- 
ness, to entertain his guests with his secret for long 
life and vigor. " When young," he said, " he had 
dismal views of old age. He inherited from his 
mother a tendency to dyspepsia, and suffered fear- 
from it, being obliged to give up his dreams of educa- 
in consequence, though his life was saved by his strict 



180 GATHERED LEAVES. 

abstinence, eating to this time only two meals a day, and of 
the simplest food, largely mush of grain — oat, wheat or 
indian — and practising vigorous manipulations of the muscles 
every day. He had never fired his blood with spirituous 
liquors nor poisoned it with narcotics. The anti -slavery 
struggle called forth his energies, and he spoke to out-of-door 
groups and in the midst of howling mobs until his voice was 
ruined, and for thirty-five years he could do no public work as 
a speaker. He then thought he might write and perhaps de- 
liver some lectures, and has continued this work as a teacher 
to this time." 

The late Sylvanus Cobb, Jr., replied in a happy speech, 
saying, '' We knew it would not be acceptable to him for us to 
bring offerings, but there was one thing we all had brought — 
the love of warm and glowing hearts, and prayers that his life 
might long be spared, for indeed we could not do without him." 
The little grandson was then brought in and rested in his dear 
grandfather's arms, but with rather an astonished air at the 
unusual surroundings. Mrs. E. H. Webster was then called 
upon and read the following tribute, which Mr. Weld humbly 
disclaimed being worthy of, but which those who have lived to 
her age know is only too true of him and his noble companions 
who have left him so nearlv alone : 

To Theodore D. Weld on entering his 80th year, — Father 
and veteran in the noble cause of truth, we greet thee and give 
thee honor on this thy anniversary day. For unto Liberty's 
cause thy heart and hand have ever faithful been, and ever have 
the oppressed found thee their champion and friend. The 
whilom slave can little know the debt he owes thy dauntless 
bravery and thy matchless tongue, nor how at freedom's call 
thy all was freely given. Each good cause as it dawned in 
cool unknown contempt found thee a champion brave and true, 
fearless alike of man or wrong, or aught save truth's neglect. 
The winter's chill but nerved thee to the harder task. The 



GATHERED LEAVES. 181 

summer's heat but gave thy heart a warmer glow to do thy duty 
faithfully to man and ready earth. Thy lore has taught the 
simplest and the most profound. Thy love fias charmed the 
infant and the needy souls who thought that life was drear. 
Thy cheerful, buoyrnt heart shamed many a faltering soul to 
deeds of noble daring ; and showed how, like the ripening of 
the noblest fruitage, a soul may grow radiant and immortal in 
the divinelp sweet compassion that feels each human grief and 
makes a Christ of those so near akin and human. 

Rev. Mr. Rich then read some appreciative lines in verse as 
follows : — 

Hail noble soul, true Israelite of old 

Whose gentle nature with thj years unfold, 

In whose great Wisdom, but no guile is found, 

Whose life with golden sheaves of love is crowned, 

A lion's courage with a woman's heart, 

By love to conquer in thy matchless art ; 

Thy spirit broad and open as the day, 

Evil before thee slinks in shame away. 

Thou dost not live for self — thy wealth of thought 

Has been in deeds of living mercy wrought. 

Thy love has been as large as humankind, 

All bonds to break, all burdens to unbind; 

All sin and wrong to wipe away from earth, 

And fill the world with goodness, truth and worth. 

Thy prayer has been, " Come kingdom of our God." 

E'en when thy self was passing 'neath the rod; 

And shadows, deep and dark, have hung above 

Thy head, but broken all, we trust, in love. 

O, hoary seer, royal saint and sage, 

Thy flowing locks bespeak a ripened age : 

But with thy years, fourscore, save one, to-night 

Youth walks erect with face toward the light. 

Heaven bless thee, standing on the border land, 

Protect, and lengthen out life's fleeting sand; 

And when thy holy work on earth is o'er 

May angels guide thee to the nearing shore! 

Meanwhile some of the neighboring ladies — Mrs. Minnie 
Cobb, Mrs. Dempsey, and Mrs. Leicester, assisted by Mr. 
Mandell, Miss Addie Teele and others — appeared with ice- 



182 GATHERED LEAVES. 

cream and cake so tempting and delicate as to make it nearly 
a union festival, depite sanitary obligations or resolves. The 
heartiest good feeling and enjoyment pervaded the large com- 
pany (nearly one hundred) , and w^hen the lateness of the hour 
reminded of home, a group gathered around Professor Batchel- 
lor and all sung " Auld Lang Syne " and departed with pleas- 
ant adieus and best wishes for health and long life for the 
none too much honored Christian Philanthropist, and for the 
dear grandchild who makes a no more beautiful picture with 
its charming parents than it does in the arms of the white- 
haired sage of Hyde Park. 



SHALL WOMEN HELP? 



" For truth must live with truth, 
Self sacrifice must seek its gi*eat allies ; 
Good must find good by gravitation sure, 
And love with love endure." 

—John G. Whittier. 

Anna E. Dickenson, in a forcible article entitled "Shall 
Women Help .^ " says, that selfishness is not loveliness, weakness 
is not tenderness. As woman's life broadens and deepens ; as 
her thought and care and responsibility widen, so does her 
capacity for love ; her strength of love broadens and deepens, 
grows in richness and beauty and power. As women love 
humanity more, they will give better love to the men by their 
sides. I ask, she says, such work for woman, not alone for 
herself, but quite as earnestly for the sake of the man who 
works and walks by her side. 

" Beware," said Margaret Fuller, " of the mediocrity that 
threatens middle age." And Lillian Whiting truly says, " It is 
mediocrity that threatens any age^ and is the inevitable de- 
stroyer of the lives that are not a positive ^rcJU'/Zz." 



GATHERED LEAVES. 183 

In a letter to Miss Annie Whitney, written in 1879, Lydia 
Maria Child said, "It is wonderful how one mortal may effect 
the destiny of a multitude. I remember distinctly the first 
time I ever saw 

WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON. 

I little thought then that the pattern of my life-web would be 
changed by that introduction. I was then all absorbed in 
poetry and painting, soaring aloft on Psyche-wings into the 
etherial wings of mysticism. He got hold of the strings of my 
conscience and pulled me into reforms. It is of no use to 
imagine what I might have been if I had never met him. 
Old dreams vanished, and all things became new. But the new 
surroundings were all alive, and they brought a moral disci- 
pline worth ten times the sacrifice. How the same circum- 
stances changed the whole coloring of life for Charles Sumner 
and Wendell Phillips. The hour of national expiation had 
come and men and women must needs obey the summons." 
In a later letter she says, — "I have always resisted the idea of 
caucuses dictating to individuals how they shall vote. It is 
utterly subversive of Republicanism, and would make an 
oh'garchy of the government." 



HAWTHORNE AND MARGARET FULLER. 



It seems strange that at this day, when we would think 
that Margaret Fuller's greatness was " as undenied as the 
beauty of a star," any one should appear with a heart to wrong 
her memory. Truth, of course, should stand, but through all 
these years since her active life, how many have risen up to 
call her worthy, if not blessed ! What a host ! And now one 
voice is raised to say that she had a "strong, heavy, unpliable, 
and in many respects, evil nature, which she adorned with a 
mosaic of admirable qualities, such as she chose to possess. 



184 GATHERED LEAVES. 

putting in here a splendid talent and tbei-e a moral excellence^ 
and polishing each separate piece and the whole together, till 
it seemed to shine afar and dazzle all who saw it." Is not the 
accomplishment of such an infinite labor as this, something 
grand and heroic, rather than proof of her being a "• humbug? "" 
It is commonly accorded to manhood as a high degree of 
nobility when it can rise superior to the conditions of birth and 
inheritance and become great and good — " selfmade *' man. 
But he says, " she took credit to herself for having been her 
own redeemer — and indeed she was a work of art than any 
of Mozier's statues." Is it then ignoble and false to be an artist 
and accomplish so great a piece of work as a comparatively 
faultless character .f* Are we not commanded " to work out 
our own salvation ? " and wdio should do it if not ourselves ? 
But the wonder is where she obtained this rough, strong 
nature, when her father was a gentleman lawyer and her 
mother is described by those who knew her, as a" flower." 

T. W. Higginson, in his article on '' Wedded Isolation, '^ 
which Julian Hawthorne is pleased to say, " has a sadly per- 
functory tone about it," explains why, " the elder Hawthorne 
and wife no better understood Margaret. They were in no 
sense reformers, and their mutual absorption did nothing to 
overcome this tendency." The minds that could deride the 
enthusiasm of Garrison or Emerson, and call Theodore Parker, 
— that most laboriously conscientious of men, — "unscru- 
pulous," could easily call so incomprehensible an individuality 
as Margaret Fuller, a " humbug." But Rev. James Freeman 
Clarke, in his noble defence of Margaret, besides giving 
abundant testimonials, as one would think, of her " deep integ- 
rity and purity," writes that an intimate friend of Hawthorne 
says that " He wrote in his note book all sorts of hints and 
suggestions as they occurred to him, as the ground for future 
imaginative characters. These notes were not his final judg- 
ment on persons, and were the last things he, himself, would 



GATHERED LEAVES. 185 

ever have thoug-ht of printing." Hawthorne said in these notes 
that " she was a person anxious to try all things," but on what 
height has he placed her himself, when by marrying an Italian 
Count, who was an appreciative companion, if not her equal 
intellectually, he speaks of her as fallen, a total collapse? 
Peace to the ashes of the dead unless they be stirred to better 
purpose than this ! 

THE THOUGHT CLUB 

met by invitation of Mrs. Hanchett, at her house on River street, 
last Saturday evening, to view Saturn's rings, the star clusters 
etc., then visible. They were rewarded with a charming view 
of the noble planet and its rings, etc. Mr. Hanchett seems 
profoundly interested in the natural sciences, and has before 
this given the club a delightful evening with his microscope, 
but the telescope view was a loss to those of us not there. 



THE REV. H. BERNARD CARPENTER 



Delivered a lecture before the " Hyde Park Thought Club," 
upon "Edmund Spenser," which was of exceeding interest 
throughout. The object of the lecture was purely benevolent 
on the part of Mr. Carpenter, being mainly for the purpose of 
valuable suggestion from his large experience in the best 
method of eliciting thought and encouraging study in literary 
clubs. "It is," said he, " after the mighty deep has been lashed to 
a tempest and is subsiding from her paroxysms of pain that her 
richest treasures are thrown upon the shore. It is in this hour 
that men come down to gather in the spoils. It is so in the 
history of a great nation, when mighty and opposing currents 
of thought sweep like a tidal wave, rousing humanity to action. 
It is in this hour that some man arises who embodies all the 
characteristics of his time and nation, whose work serves as a 



186 GATHERED LEAVES. 

keynote or landmark in the language and events of his period, 
which comes down to posterity as the pearl of great price 
thrown up by the tempest. To study a poet intelligently, it is 
necessary to note well the period in which he lived, the events 
which developed the man. 

Edmund Spenser, born in the middle of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, when Protestantism had no corner in all Europe save 
England ; when as a youth he could, from his home in East 
Smithfield, see the smoke ascending from the burning martyrs 
on Tower Hill ; each event of that thrilling period, from the 
burning of the martyrs to the crowning of the young Qiieen 
Elizabeth, seems to have touched and impressed the poet." 
Mr. Carpenter then spoke of his college life at Cambridge, his 
association with Sir Philip Sydney, Sir Walter Raleigh, and 
his breaking away from the literary slavery of Gabriel Hardant ; 
his impassioned appeal for the possibilities of the English 
language, the scorn and ridicule which he encountered, being 
looked upon in his day as an innovator, but steadily weaving 
a web from those great forces for the sublime production of the 
" Fairie Queene." After leading his audience in the most in- 
structive manner to the poem itself, he said, the "Fairie 
Queene " was the result of a time when three great forces were 
at work — religion, learning and art, — the Deity in Spenser's 
day being a sublime conception, and the religion of a period 
is always to be looked upon as a powerful factor in its litera- 
ture. 

To accompany the " Fairie Queene " is to be led through 
some dimly-lighted gallery of mediaeval art, where, as if by 
Oriental magic, the beauty of every virtue is spread out before 
us, and we see in dim perspective the possibilities which lift 
man to the gods, the conception throughout the entire poem 
being of the most exalted purity. Speaking more critically of 
the poem as a work of art, he said that Spenser endeavored to 
combine the work of both Pope and Milton in his effort of the 



GATHERED LEAVES. 187 

" Fairie Qtieene," and in this respect he had failed. But 
were it not for its severely moral tone throughout, the " Fairie 
Qiieene " would be the great epic poem in the English tongue. 



REV. ADA C. BOWLES. 



Come bring thy gift. If blessings were as slow- 
As men's returns, what would become of fools? 
What hast thou there.? a heart.? but is it true.? 
Search well and see; for hearts have many holes. 
Yet one pure heart is nothing to bestow; 
In Christ two natures met to be thy cure. 

— George Herbert. 

This gifted teacher and lecturer, whose present home is in 
Abington, spent a few hours in Hyde Park with a former 
schoolmate, Mrs. E. D. Swallow. Through their courtesy, 
some friends were granted the privilege of hearing this earnest 
and true woman on some of the live topics of the day. She 
has felt that the pittance of school suffrage was so very small, 
after subjecting woman to all the disagreeables of publicity and 
annoyances from which she shrinks, that she has hardly cared 
to accept it ; but she thinks it best to accept it, and made a good 
point. She says, "■ a woman loses her pocket-book and a man 
picks it up, and when asked to return it, says she must identify 
it, which she does to his satisfaction, when he says she may 
have five dollars of its contents. Sixty-five thousand women 
have asked for the franchise, and the answer is, ' What will 
you do with it.? Yes, it is your right, but we don't know 
how it will work ; so we will give you a small part of it } ' Is 
not this, as with the pocket-book, an impertenance .? 

CHRISTMAS CHIMES 

are in the air, and how often are they to find a response in the 
heart and harmony with those of the One for whose sake they 
are pealed } We make lovely gifts for those whose homes are 
already full of beauty. We give charming, quaint and beauti- 
ful reminders of the love we feel for those whose artist natures 



188 GATHERED LEAVES. 

revel in such things ; and nothing can be more beautiful than 
love — love of our kind in whom we see dawnings of the 
sweet gracious spirit which made the lovely babe of Nazareth 
grow in favor with God and man ; but the Christ we revere, 
what did he? " He led captivity captive, and gave gifts imto 
men," gifts of love and strength, and healing to those who 
needed consolation. Like him we may yet find captives, 
whose chairs of ignorance and sensuality still bind them with 
cords some such loving heart can sever. Shall we leave them 
in their loneliness, and of those suffering little ones whom he 
said we have always with us, but of whom he also said, 
"Whatsoever is done to the least of these is done unto me?" 
Or, shall we do with our might whatsoever our hands find to 
do.? 

REV. CHARLES NOYES OF CLINTON, 

preached at the Unitarian church last Sunday, from the text, 
St. Mark iv, 28, — "First the blade, then the ear; after that 
the full corn in the ear." " Christianity," said the speaker, " is 
a fact in nature, and Jesus Christ its great interpreter — so clear, 
so full, that it takes us to its heart. If we seek, we can easily 
understand what is so much in harmony with reason and 
natural sequence. With some people mystery is an attraction, 
as a notable man said he believed in the Trinity because it was 
impossible. Nowhere is God's spirit so fully seen as in the 
hearts of his children. If opposed to nature, man has no 
means of knowing whether religion is true or false. If the 
trust of infinite love is taken from it, the truth has been con- 
ceded to mammon. Some fear for religion if any change is 
made. But the word of Jesus, rather than the creed, must 
come to the front. The fatherhood of God, his love to the 
repentant, the truth that as a man soweth so shall he reap, 
and that the Son can do nothing of himself. Life and immor- 
tality have made, not the old time hades, but an even, upward 
line of progression. " Thus do and thou shalt live " — first the 
blade, then the ear, and afterward the full ripe corn in the ear. 



GATHERED LEAVES. 



189 



THE THOUGHT CLUB. 




HE second meeting of this Club 
for the season was held in the 
parlors of Mrs. Weld on Tues- 
day last, at 3 p. M. Miss Eva 
Channing of Jamaica Plain, a 
relative of the beloved Dr. 
Channing, read a very interest- 
ing paper. In her travels in 
Europe she had the opportunity 
of seeing the famous Passion 
Play, and this she took as her 
topic. "Away up in the Bavarian 
mountains is located the little village 
of Oberammegan. In the seventeenth 
century, to render scripture pictures 
familiar, this play was established. 
The noble and venerable man who 
was our host, was the leader of the chorus. At 
half-past seven early mass is over, and the im- 
mense building, holding six thousand, is filling. 
It has no stage, but two turrets at the extremes of right and 
left. At eight o'clock begins the overture, very sweet and 
solemn. A door opens in the turrets, and an unusually tall 
and graceful man begins and speaks the prologue. The cur- 
tain rises and you see the expulsion of Adam and Eve, and a 
cross where little children kneel. The chorus of guardian 
spirits return to the turret. As we gaze down the two distant 
streets of Jerusalem, we see Jesus riding on an ass, his hair 
flowing over his mantle, which passes over one shoulder. 
Then the scene in the temple turning out the money changers ; 
then Joseph and his brethren ; Christ at the house of Simon ; 



190 GATHERED LEAVES. 

The Magdalene is Inferior to the mother of Jesus, which is 
very fine in the representation. The most beautiful tableaux 
are — the children of Israel gathering the manna; The last 
Supper ; Judas and the Disciples ; The garden of Gethsemene 
and Jesus. It does not seem art, but reality. Christ is led 
away. After sitting three hours and a half it is quite a relief 
to repair to our home, and there is the chorus leader, which 
seems almost sacreligious. At one o'clock all are in their 
places. The second and every scene has its tableau. Christ 
is the patient sufferer. We seem to be in the presence of per- 
secuted righteousness. Here it is that Peter denies his master. 
Pilate is not strong enough to let the guiltless go free, but 
washes his hands. We pity and mourn for him. The pro- 
cession advances, with Christ bearing his cross. Now the 
chorus come in sad garments. The curtain rises and we see 
Golgotha illumined by an ineffable light. It is all so real that 
were it not for t4ie sweetness of the Christ, it would be heart- 
rending. The descent from the cross and preparing the body, 
all are most vivid. The chorus appears, and at nearly five o'clock 
we made our way by an unfrequented road overlooking the 
village. The play commenced as a religious offering, or vow, 
when the village was afflicted with plague ; and though it was 
formerly performed yearly, it is now limited to once in ten years. 
The actors are selected for their moral character, and the rep- 
resentation lasts every Sunday during the summer, and on Mon- 
day if too man}^ are present to witness it. 

' THE TEMPERANCE GROVE MEETING. 

Qriite a large number gathered in the grove last Sunday 
afternoon and listened with attention to the exercises, which 
were opened as usual with singing, reading of the scriptures, 
and prayer by Mrs. Caller. Bro. Miller was then called upon 
to make some remarks, which he did very acceptably, giving 
some statistics which must awaken thought in the minds of 
philanthropists. In the year 1882, eighty millions of revenue 



GATHERED LEAVES. 191 

were derived from the manufacture and sale of fermented 
liquors ! There are 180,000 people directly engaged in the sale 
of these, besides their assistants. If each one of these should 
ruin but two men a year, what an amount of injury is done 
to societ}^ ! He said he believed in this cause, because we 
can know that we have the Almighty power behind it. 
This cause of temperance is the one that lies nearest the 
heart of God. While drunkenness is disappearing with us, it 
is on the increase in Boston and drunkards are daily seen on its 
streets. Let our light shine forth all around us and "then a 
deed will be done for freedom." Bro. Humphrey rejoiced to 
again look in the faces of a temperance gathering. When the 
heart of man touches the heart of man something is the result. 
Whenever we see a drunkard we want to reclaim him ; when 
we see a dramshop we want to shut it up, aud when we 
see suffering we want to relieve it. How did we go to work 
in the reform club time.? We helped people out of the gutter, 
and lovingly and earnestly tried to help and encourage them to 
become better men. I thank God for the examples we have 
in men reclaimed from the results of intemperance. I think it 
would be an excellent thing to have meetings in the different 
churches every Sunday afternoon when these out-door meetings 
close, and keep up the good work begun. Not say, Lord, Lord ! 
and do nothing, but do with our might ^vhat ever is needed. 
Mrs. Caller made a stirring appeal in behalf of this unselfish 
work of Christian activity, and told of a man who for thirteen 
years has been a pillar of the church, and who became reformed 
only after repeated failures, and unwearied loving help from 
Christian workers. 

A RAINY SUNDAY. 

Contented to enjoy the grateful showers with which nature 
was blessing the thirsty land, we failed to respond to the cus- 
tomary impulse to seek the courts of prayer and praise and at 
night learned that a minister whom we had long known by 



192 GATHERED LEAVES. 

repute, but had heard not preached, filled the pulpit at the 
Unitarian that mornijig. * He had fulfilled the twofold object 
of exchange, and made a visit of comfort and sympathy to the 
afflicted widow of the late Charles Codman ofNeponset, whose 
death was occasioned by the explosion of acid in his store in Bos- 
ton. Mr. Codman was so excellent and public spirited a man, 
that his loss was not only a most severe blow to his family, but to 
the community and especially to women is his loss irreparable, 
unless, in ways not seen by our blinded eyes, he will still be 
the champion of the weak, the oppressed and the needy. 

Henry Ward Beecher, in his sermon of Sunday last, said, 
" Christ wrought miracles by laying hands upon natural laws 
near their source, and so produced results that no man but he 
could do at that time, although it was possible that men will 
hereafter acquire such a control over nature as will permit 
them to do the same things." 

MRS. H. B. SHATTUCK. 

" Oh, make thou us,. through centuries long, 
In peace, secure, in justice strong; 
And cast in some diviner mould, 
Let the new cycle shame the old ! " 

Mrs. H. B, Shattuck, who has been giving such delightful 
accounts of the Concord School of Philosophy, has done much 
to lift from the region of the flippant and ridiculous, the deep 
and most important themes which have engaged the attention 
of so many of the noblest and thinking minds. The daughter 
of the lamented " Warrington " she has proved herself by her 
industry and understanding, worthy descendent of her gifted 
ancestry. For her mother has also written a most readable book 
of" Pen Portraits and Reminiscences," from the life and works 
of her husband, with a memoir by herself. The dedication is 
to " The People^ in whom 'Warrington' believed, and for 

* This was the Rev. C. C. Hussey, of Billerica, the long time friend and pastor of ex- 
Gov. Talbot. 



GATHERED LEAVES. 



193 



whom he labored," and the introduction by F. B. Sanborn. 
At his burial, Dr. Bartol, spoke of him as " Prince of 
Journalists," his constant habit was to show matters of public 
interest in the light of truth and morality. And Bishop Gil- 
bert Haven said of him, *' Few men have ever lived who more 
completely verified the portrait of the poet's poet, ' dowered 
with the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn, the love of love.'" 
Like him, Mrs. S. is deeply interested in the progressive work 
of the day. 



HEALING POWER OF THOUGHT. 




RS. Stuart gave an interesting lecture 
on this subject, Thursday evening, at 
Knights of Honor Hall, before a very 
large and intelligent audience. On 
being introduced very finely by Mr. 
Washburn, she said, " In present 
^ philosophical usage, thought denotes 
|lthe exercise of the very highest in- 
tellectual functions, especially those 
Lisually comprehended under judg- 
ment and reason. Considered from 
this Doint of view, the distinction be- 
tween thought-power and will-power 
is at once manifest. Any act of mine 
which follows directly from some log- 
ical or mathematical conclusion is 
philosophically quite the opposite of 
the same act flowing from a blind 
determination or an ' I will.' This 
troublesome ' I will ' ought always to 
be the servant of Thought, Judgment 
and Reason, never the master. With 



194 GATHERED LEAVES. 

will-power one may control the will-power of another, but 
never that thought-power by which the other knows that 
' every effect must have a cause/ or comprehends any prob- 
lem in geometr}^, or astronomy. This distinction between 
thought-power and will-power cannot be too strongly empha- 
sized. In ethics it is not the results of an act wdiich are judged ; 
it is the'thought, the motive back of the act, which is right or 
wrong, guilty or not guilty. When we remove results we do 
not in any way change the moral quality of the act, by wiping 
out effects in morals or disease, the cause is still left in full 
force. You might as well, by rubbing the surface of a mirror, 
try to remove the reflection of your face ; but it is only the 
work of an instant, b_v one step aside, to remove the image. 

THE MAGIC LANTERN OF THE MIND. 

If mind be the seat of the disease, how is the suffering located 
in the body.^ In morals, the wonderful picturing faculty of the 
mind is in a measure understood ; we would as soon give our 
children poison as allow them to look on impure pictures ; yet 
we do not regard the vast importance of having bright, clean 
and pure pictures in our minds in place of the dark ones we 
do not wish there. This magic lantern in the minds of every 
one of us must, in spite of us, have pictures of some kind to 
reflect. Our daily newspapers and the general tone of our 
current literature is not, what it ought to be on this point. 
Scandals and criminal proceedings constitute to a perfectly 
amazing degree our mental atmosphere. The influence of this 
great picturing power in producing disease is not realized 
scarcely at all. The body responds to thought. Take for 
example anger or revenge. How they distort the face, im-. 
pair the breathing, impede or quicken the circulation, con- 
tract the muscles, and go tingling through every nerve and fibre 
of the body. So, in disease, fear in our own minds or those 
about us stamps, as it were, an image of some disease upon the 
body ; and the body expresses or reflects this image. When 



GATHERED LEAVES. 



195 



thought has been turned to this subject and applied in the 
same proportion to which it has been given to the natural 
sciences,. ethical and social questions, the arts, etc., etc., the 
physical condition of the race, in a few generations will as far 
surpass ours as we now surpass the Hottentot or Esquimaux 
in intellect, morals and religion. In this vast field of work we 
are in a measure responsible for our own mental pictures as 
well as those about us. 



MARGARET FULLER. 




HE Thought Club and invited friends 
enjoyed, at the residence of Mrs. Stuart, 
a delightful social talk by MissPeabody. 
The venerable lady, whose experience 
dates back to the commencement of the 
century, began her convei*sation, by say- 
ing, that at the beginning of the century 
there was an idea in Boston and vicinity 
of the claim of women to intellectual 
development and culture equal to that of men. 
A paper in which it was said that in this 
country the interests of art and literature rested 
on women, because men, as the stay of our na- 
tion's life, were necessarily absorbed in politics 
and the material development of the country. 
Li the first year of the century the first acad- 
emy for women, which was at Andover, was kept by her own 
mother, and here in this circle of study and thought the 
speaker was born. She continued to teach for twentj^ years 
and inspire women with a love of learning and of art. And 
she had acquired her education by her own reading in a 
family of high culture, and with a large library, amid the sac- 
rifices of her family in tlie Revolutionary war. She devoted 
three hours of the day to school and three more to the reading 



196 GATHERED LEAVES. 

of the better pieces of English h'teratnre. There was great 
love of reading, and also many remarkable women, in the first 
quarter of the centurj-. Among them was the gifted wife of 
John Lowell, whose benevolent ideal for women was par- 
tially carried out in the Institute bearing their name and 
receiving their inheritance. Warren Colburn, if he had gone 
out of education, would have developed the plan of Frobel and 
a broad and universal culture. At last the speaker came to 
Margaret Fuller, an extraordinarily gifted child of Timothy 
Fuller and the mother whom Margaret afterward characterized 
as a flower. Her father educated her himself, teaching her 
to read English in the newspaper and turn it into Latin. She 
also studied French, so that, when twelve years old, she was 
exceedingly well read, and, in rather a tasteless way, was 
forced by her father into the society of Cambridge, all its Pro- 
fessors being invited by a note, in her own name, to a party to 
celebrate her 12th birthday. This was an unfortunate thing 
for Margaret's future, because the vanity of her father in show- 
ing her oft^ created a predjudice that she could hardly outgrow. 
She was originally and wonderfully gifted and a certain self- 
confidence given her which was something more than the 
desirable self-reliance that is one foundation of noble charac- 
ter and great achievement, and is a very different thing from 
vanity, though sometimes confounded with it by the unchari- 
table. She did assert the ideal in asserting her own indvidi- 
uality. She was never petty nor mean ; her charasteristic 
thoughts were the desperate throes of the ungrown giant. 
She grew^ up and unfolded and went through all the oscilla- 
tions of a great nature too much in the eyes of the world. 
Miss Peabody described her first meeting with Margaret, 
which was while Miss Peabody was teaching in Boston, and 
at the solicitation of some of the scholars, who induced Mar- 
garet to come and see her. The house was thrown open to 
company, and among them was Dr. Hedge, who had just 
returned from Germany, and she got from him the idea that 



GATHERED LEAVES. 197 

'' truth was beauty." She generally felt that she gave thought, 
instead of receiving, but she allowed her great debt to Dr. 
Hedge. Her father, who was always present at her recep- 
tions, was a very severe critic, and Margaret would write her 
reply in the morning. This habit of making herself under- 
stood b}^ a mind of such different type was an excellent disci- 
pline. When her conversations commenced she would make 
the most magnificent statements and wish the ladies to prepare 
themselves to reply. There was thought, but they were not 
in the habit of expressing themselves. Finally their thoughts 
ventured out and she would comprehend and receive them 
so finely that this became her great forte. She has been called 
sarcastic, but the intellect is naturally sarcastic. Power is nat- 
urally generous. " Don't you think so, Mr. Weld.^" the spea- 
ker asked, to which that gentleman replied, " Certainly." If 
she saw talent in young persons she wanted them to culti- 
vate it. She had respect for the human mind. When we 
come into the world we demand the universe as in Genesis — 
to mankind is given the command of the universe." But Miss 
Peabody was most intense when speaking of Margaret's moral 
and religious development of her last years ; of her faithful labors 
of love in educating her brothers, which she did regularly, hav- 
ing made a bargain with her father that if she would save him 
this expense he would give her money to go to Europe and 
finish the grand plan of self-culture she had laid out for herself. 
But her father died, and the estate could not well be settled in 
time for her to return with Miss Martineau ; and her mother was 
dismayed, and Margaret's health also failed. The nobility of 
her character was shown in bearing so bravely her great grief 
and disappointment, and devoting herself so unselfishly to 
assist the family. Mr. Greeley offered her a handsome salary 
if she would go to New York and write what she pleased, and 
on any subject. After a while she went to Europe and entered 
into the spirit of the Italian struggle. She became acquainted 



198 



GATHERED LEAVES. 



in this way with Ossoli, whom she married from admiraticrn af 
his great moral _CTi-andeLir and purity, which she had learned to- 
prefer above meie intellect. The seige of Rome, which soon 
followed, was the reason why her friends at home knew so lit- 
tle of her new social relations, and the news of their sad death 
by shipwreck sent a thrill through many an admiring heart. 
Miss Peabody, who is perfectly inexhaustible in her reminis- 
cences, kept the company to a late hour, and then the subject 
seemed only begun. She is still a very delightful teacher. 



PROTAP CHUNDER MOZOOMDAR. 




N being called upon by President Humph- 
reys and invited to the pulpit, he ascended 
the pulpit steps, which were all embowered 
in the most exquisite autumn leaves, and 
commenced his simple but most eloquent 
exposition of his faith. His dark, rich 
complexion, together with his apparently 
Caucassian physiognomy, rendered him 
an interesting and attractive man. In 
calm and deliberate tones he commenced : '' The manifesta- 
tation of Avisdom is sweetest in a woman soul. I was told 
there was plenty of metaphysics and dispepsia in them, but in 
these glowing faces I do not see a sign of dyspepsia. I have 
spoken of late often, I have always tried to learn, and the lady 
who has preceded me has taught me a useful lesson. We have 
tried to simplify religion. The hope of the Bramo Soma's 
religion is a simple thing, but here, so many creeds have 
been poured in, that it has become a difficult thing. We 
unlettered Easterns mean to contribute to the simplicity, the 
natural taith, that comes as the rain. This bright, blessed 
sun, the streams through the meadow, speak to me that I 



GATHERED LEAVES. 199 

reflect. We cannot make the light. We depend on an un- 
seen hand. Willingly or rebelliously we have to obey the laws 
of God. Dependance on a higher law regulates all things. 
This faith^ this trust constitutes the first part of ray religion. 
If you look upon the law trustingly, it becomes providence. 
The bright sun becomes a disk of glory. There is a God 
above and around. Beneficence calls forth love. In the mere 
earthly love-making there is a deeper symbol — that of prayer. 
Love is the second power and is unconscious, the second prin- 
ciple in our religion. What does the lover do? He adores, 
he prostrates himself. Loveless worship is like a millstone 
which sinks the soul in depths of unbelief. Worship is the 
child of love, -so prayer is the daughter of love. Words with- 
out thought never go. What does the man who loves his 
country do.? He consecrates himself, and is self-sacrificed. 
When I worship and adore I will love to serve and become 
serviceable. The Infinite is not in need of our service, but 
our fellows are. Men serve with money, men serve with love 
and charity. The Son of Man had nothing, so gave himself a 
wealth of spiritualit}^ and holiness. My brothers and sisters, 
let us learn to give ourselves ; when the whole is given, worldly 
resources cannot be withheld. The Man of Sorrows, asso- 
ciating with fishermen, taught the lesson we need to learn. 
Where muscular Christianity has prostrated us, what remains 
to us, but to give ourselves, soul and body. You, with your 
wealth and culture, and we, with our poverty, find in this our 
consolation and joy." 



CARLO BORROMEO THE PHILANTHROPIST. 

Rev. George Brennan, of Uxbridge, last Sunday evening, 
deliveied In the Unitarian church, an interesting lecture on 
this famous Italian Saint. The wonderful spirit of humility 



200 GATHERED LEAVES. 

and self-renunciation which prompted him, a born prince, to 
endure such sufferings, privations and toils for the good of 
others, almost reduced him to penury in his later days. While 
only a young man, rich and handsome, the pride of a luxurious 
court, the Pope heaps upon him honors and burdens, which 
the young man accepts, but instead of mounting a throne he 
drops on his knees. But he was in earnest. He purged the 
libraries of immoral books, and but for his lovelier habit of 
compassion would have become a persecutor. In the heat of 
summers or rigor of winters his frail form was seen among the 
lonely passes with his Alpine staff in hand with no sigh of 
complaint. Like all reformers, he was not popular with those 
whose sins he rebuked ; though first of all he had reformed 
himself. " He is praised who would beautify a temple but 
cursed who would beautify men's lives." After incredible 
labor over fifteen bishoprics and three thousand two hundred 
clergymen, and heroic work in the plague-stricken city of 
Milan, he passed away, worshipped as a saint, in his 45th, 
year. 

REV. S. C. BEACH. 



" Dreamer waiting for darkness with sorrowful drooping ejes, 
Linger not in the vallej, bemoaning the day that is done ! 
Climb the eastern mountains and welcome the rosy skies, ^- 
Never yet was the setting so fair as the rising sun " 

— Edfta Dean Proctor. 

Rev. S. C. Beach of Dedham, preached last Sunday at the 
Unitarian Church from the text, Acts xxiii : 11 — " Be of good 
cheer." "Nothing," he said, " hurts us like seeing a child 
made prematurely old, a being who should be radient as a 
sunbeam. A child has a right to be amused. But when no 
longer a child, to be childish without a child's simplicity is far 
from desirable. In a world where there are so many duties to 



GATHERED LEAVES. 201 

be done and sorrows to be borne, some think it wrong to smile. 
Let us be just to these, they are not only sincere, but partially 
right. To fulfill religious responsibility is the most important. 
The mistake is in taking as a necessity what should be a pleas- 
ure. Good humor is not commonhM-ecognized as a virtue, or if 
so, it is considered as one of the lesser social virtues. This is 
putting too low a value on it, for in the first place all our enjoy- 
ment is in good spirits and heartiness. If a person has lost his 
good nature he has lost the elixir of life. All things delightful 
will only leave him in disgust and without the solid enjoyment of 
the hardest laborer. If he can only learn to enjoy himself he 
may be ha^Dpy in any or ail conditions. Sweet and sunny souls 
have been found in wasted bodies and in hearts at peace with 
themselves. The boy who has been bed ridden fifteen years, 
and was happv and cheerful, was a constant rebuke to the 
people who find nothing to their liking. When consoled with 
the suggestion that ' winter would soon be gone,' he said ' he 
liked the winter,' and his visitor found he had no need to teach 
him philosophy. He had a good Methodist aunt, and she said 
' Robbie could pray like a trooper.' 

' A MERRY HEART 

Doeth good like a medicine,' and helps us to endure what we 
cannot cure. A Minnesota farmer plowed and harrowed and 
planted and his harvest was an empty formality, but it mat- 
tered little to one who cannot loose his good nature. It was 
his genial philosophy that ' lightning does not strike twice in 
the same place.' We say of some that they have lost their 
reason ; but they have only lost their spirits. Some sweeten 
life for others, like perfume from the flowers, refreshing and 
cheering. We are always wishing we could make everybody 
happy and distribute the bounteous goods nature scatters. And 
we may. There are those who difilise blessings wherever 
they go, ' virtue goes out from them ' as by ' the touch of the 
hem of their garment.' The little boy on the street with his 



202 GATHERED LEAVES. 

package of bills knows not to whom he may offer one, so little 
is his calling held in repute, but a man comes along and takes 
the little boy's hand and shakes it with warmth and good 
nature, and it goes a great way toward cheering the little 
straggler for subsistence. The wheels are oiled when the 
house-mother speaks kindly to her helpers, and she has no 
such power as a cheerful smile. A little child clapping her 
hands ran to her aunt and said, ^ It always makes me a good 
girl when you laugh.' There are certain momentary rays of 
good nature, but to have it always on hand will carry us peace- 
fully through life. 

HOW IS IT TO BE ACQUIRED .? 

In the first place we must accept ourselves and not brood 
over our limitations, but make the best of them, 'Just as I am 
without one plea,' and come to ourselves. We must learn to 
put up with other people and never lose our temper. There is 
nothing but to accept our lot. Half our troubles we make by 
rebelling against our circumstances. ' This world is not so 
bad a world as some would seem to make it. ****** 
Depends on how we take it.' In the prison the apostle said that 
' the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer.' The best 
philosophy will amount to nothing unless we are resolute in 
will. Come what may, we must be obstinately good natured. 
A woman bent on gaining this victory took as her talisman, 
' Be genial, be genial ! ' Nothing can succeed without watch- 
fulness. If the watchman is off his guard the citadel is taken." 

The whole discourse was eminently practical and reminds us 
of a little verse in the Union Signal: — 

" Put down the brakes ! 
No matter how well the track is laid, 
No matter how strong the engine is made, 
When jou find it running on a downward grade 
Put down the brakes ! " 



GATHERED LEAVES. 203 



REV. JAMES HUXTABLE. 

" We live in deeds, not years, in thoughts, not breath, 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial; 
We should count life by heart throbs — he most lives 
Who thinks most — feels the noblest — acts the best." 

— Festus. 

SUNDAY SERVICES. 

The closing session, before the summer vacation, was held 
last Sabbath, at the Unitarian. The Rev. James Huxtable 
discoursed from the text in John v, 8. Jesus saith unto 
him, "Rise, take up thy bed and walk." "Most," he said, 
" have read this story of a man sitting by the side of a spring to 
whose waters were ascribed some supernatural cure, as by 
angels troubling the waters. Jesus saw this man, who for 
thirty-eight years had been infirm, and asked him if he would 
like to be made whole. He answered that, ' he had no man 
to put him into the pool when the waters were troubled.' 
Then, Jesus said ' Rise take up thy bed and walk.' Where 
can you look that you do not find men waiting for something 
holding some power to lift them up, by which all the troub- 
lous problems will be solved and the terrible penalties of sin 
swept away? So there are thousands waiting for some oppor- 
tune time of ' getting religion,' from the provided pools of 
Bethesda, where they may receive its benefits. A tendency to 
discover the idea of self-help is ignored in the theme that 
'Jesus does it all.' Self help is subverted in social life. The 
capital for success is money. The father feels that his boy 
must not dig and delve as he has done, and this incapacitates 
him for success. If such an one should make a man, credit 
should be given to him. True, as long as suffering and igno- 
rance continue, there will be need of the sweet love of Jesus. 
I know not how much was real in the sickness of this man, 
but as philanthropists are now learning, the greatest help is in 
helping others to help themselves. ' To rise and take up the 
bed and walk.' You can teach men that they are degraded 



204 GATHERED LEAVES. 

and helpless, and they will become so. We want to make life 
easy. We are jealous to bring back Eden, not by modifying 
circumstances. We may have an Eden, but the man must 
make the Eden, and not Eden the man. All good can only be 
attained by suffering and conflict and toil. 

WHAT MAKES THE OAK SO STRONG? 

The winds and storms have driven the roots firmer into the 
soil. The desire to live is what gives the pain of death. 
What millions are struggling to live ! The man of science for 
light and knowledge. If we expect to be free from temptation 
we must expect to have less strength. We may help one most 
by letting him feel the consciousness of his own shiftlessness. 
Let us never forget that man must feel the responsibilit}^, as in 
Milton — 'Whose fault? I made him just and right.' It is 
the condition of our progress to struggle ; the man who meets his 
foe conquers. Until men's energies are directed to possessing 
instead of professing, will the duty of self-help be required. 
As the best government is where the people are free and unre- 
stricted, so the best religion teaches human responsibility. 
There is no artificial way to heaven and to escape hell. Our chil- 
dren should learn cause and effect. The boy who has lived 
among temptations and can say 'no,' is strong. Never do you 
do so much to help another as when you can feel and inspire 
him with confidence. As the man in this account, when told 
to ' Rise, take his bed and walk,' did so, astonished at his self- 
help. Did we summon a little of the courage that heaven has 
given us we might be similarly astonished. Look at Zacheas, 
the tax gatherer, whom men had despised until he despised 
himself. He came down when Jesus called him, his fears 
quieted with the assurance that he was also a son of Abraham. 
Poor Zacheas exclamed, ' I give half of ni}^ goods to the poor, 
and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, 
I restore him four fold.' Jesus brought him to his true man- 



GATHERED LEAVES. 205 

hood. So we do a orreat wrong when we are waitino^ to be led 
down to some pool, when by courage we may help ourselves 
with the instrumentalities God so richly provides for us. 



THEODORE D. WELD ON WENDELL PHILLIPS. 



The venerable Theodore D. Weld read an elegantly pre- 
pared paper on Wendell Phillips. " Of all great things " he 
said, " great souls are the grandest. They open fountains in 
the desert — buoying up by their greatness the pilots out on the 
raging seas. A half a century ago, two such souls came cry- 
ing, ' Repent"! break every yoke and let the oppressed go 
free.' How they agonized ! No news like that which 
flashed electric thought — and now millions rise up and call 
them blessed ! Let us commune with the younger. A 3'ear 
ago his majestic form was borne to its kindred dust, and no 
name so lives to-day in the best hearts of his native city or is 
whispered more tenderly from ocean to ocean. It was not 
his genius so much as his goodness, that kindled this over- 
powering love. His genius was no single element, but equal 
forces blending into one — strong in each of the higher ele- 
ments, all thus in union. This gave him vast power. — 1st, 
he had the intuitive quality. 2nd, strong self-poise. 3d, a 
heroism nothing could daunt. 4th, serene, independence, con- 
tent to stand alone. 5th, fidelity of self-sacrifice. 6th, a moral 
courage unmoved by all contempt or clamor. 7th, all these 
were marshalled by an indomitable will, wrought out and 
voiced in transcendent strength and beauty. He had the subtle 
charm of a winning manner ; his eye darting lightning on 
wrong or tyranny. His supremely unselfish life was a crown 
of glory. We cannot do justice in our- notes to his glowing 
eulogy of this grand man." Mr. Weld also gave the testimony 
of a college room-mate —a son of Dr. Pierce of Brookline, 



206 GATHERED LEAVES. 

who said of him, " He is a man with a whole soul. He never 
said or did anything unbecoming a christian. He was above 
all pretence. His bible was always open on the centre of the 
table, and he was known to be just what he seemed to be. 
His standing was among the first, though a host of grand 
men were his companions. I never knew him to make a 
failure of anything he undertook, or knew him to hesitate. He 
was patient and laborious and he had a hatred to oppression 
in any form." Dr. Morrison says of him that he was a subject 
of a revival. Before that, he was given to occasional bursts of 
temper, but never after. After he had seen Garrison dragged 
through the streets of Boston, he spent two years in exploring 
the subject of slavery. This ripened him apace for his work. 
He felt that its breath was poison and a divine pratriotism 
nerved him so that he counted it "all joy" to suffer in the cause. 
Two years after John Wesley uttered those stirring words — 
" Slavery is the sum of all villainies." Glorious old John Wes- 
ley ! well he knew that language had no words too strong to 
portray its horrors. These Phillips had brooded over until he 
saw it blinding and blunting the public heart. Some men and 
women may be, had not bowed the knee to this Babel, but for 
sixty 3^ears the old cradle of liberty had stood still. He gave a 
thrilling account of how it was set rocking after the mobbing 
of Lovejoy, and how Channing and Phillips plead for free- 
dom. 



PROFESSOR HUDSON. 



" Alone to such as fitly bear 

Thy civic honors bid them fall. 
And call thy daughters forth to share 

The rights and duties pledged to all." 

—John G. Whittier. 

Never, perhaps, did a September open more gloriously 
fair and blooming than the present. With the foliage looking 
more like June than after it has passed the scorching days of 



GATHERED LEAVES. 207 

midsummer heat, it would seem that such a world of beauty 
was enough to compensate one for a host of ills. Indeed, 
when we heard Professor Hudson say recently that life was 
such a serious thing, he felt it was not worth living were it 
not for the hope of immortality and blessedness beyond, we 
involuntarily started and mentally asked one listener if it 
v/ere so? And we wondered if that would be the universal 
verdict of those who not only enjoy this world so full of beauty, 
but the richer treasures of mental and spiritual beauty, which 
the world of letters and of thought opens up to them ? When 
we know that, although misery abounds, yet the Good Father 
has provided such a world of bounty that not one of his chil- 
dren need to suffer from want when the balances are adjusted, 
and when we learn to realize that his care and love are not 
occasional but continued — as real in the cloud as in the sun- 
shine — then all is well ! Should we put so low a value on 
life in this sphere? 



LYDIA MARIA CHILD TO C. S. 



When such noble women as Mary Livermore, Julia Ward 
Howe and Marv F. Eastman express in such unqualified 
terms their desire to enjoy the same political and social rights 
as their brothers, it would seem that they must be heard. 

Lydia Maria Child said, years ago, to Charles Sumner, 
"I reduce the arguments to very simple elements. I pay 
taxes for property of my own earning and saving, and I do not 
believe in taxation without representation. As for representa- 
tion by proxy that savors too much of the plantation system, 
however kind the master may be. I am a human being, and 
every human being has a right to a voice in the laws which 
claim authority to tax him. The exercise of rights always has 
a more salutary effect on character than the enjoyment of 



208 GATHERED LEAVES. 

privileges. Any class of human beings to whom a position of 
perpetual subordination is assigned, however much they may 
be petted and flattered, must inevitably be dwarfed, morally 
and intellectually. But for forty years I have keenly felt my 
limitations as a woman, and have submitted to them under 
perpetual and indignant protest. It is too late for the subject 
to be of much interest to me personally. I have walked in 
fetters all my pilgi'image^ and now I have but little fai'ther 
to go. But I see so clearly that domestic and public life would 
be so much ennobled by the perfect equality and companion- 
ship of men and women in all the departments of life, that I 
long to see it accomplished for the order and well being of 
the world." 



REV. MINOT J. SAVAGE. 

Work of the True Church. — Rev. Minot J. Savage 
spoke on Sunday evening at the Unitarian church on the " Work 
of the True Church " being to aid man in achieving his true 
destiny. What, and how? The catechism says, by learning 
to " glorify God and enjoy him forever." As we can only see 
Him, in His works we must learn lovingly to obey them. 
An assumption that we have the whole of truth is a barrier to 
our highest development. An infallible guide leading in 
different ways is in the way of study and progress, and fosters 
spiritual pride. Noble, inspiring, grand book ! We do not 
dispute any claims it makes, but intend to use all the light it 
gives to "work out our own salvation," and correct our mis- 
takes. God lives to-day and speaks as really as in the past. 
All couriers are sacred who run on God's errands ; all lips con- 
secrated which speak for Him. Leaving the past, the future 
is ours. We are living in a new universe. The first has 
passed away. To the minds of intelligent men this is not the 



GATHERED LEAVES. 209 

world of Moses, of Jesus, of Paul or John Milton. It is new 
to us by being what it is. Science makes knowledge. Do 
people want ignorance of nature's laws.? The old was fanciful 
and incomplete because the science of that day was so. To- 
day we do not believe in a God who would torture or destroy 
his children, or instruct them to commit crimes below the 
morality of the day. We repel the insinuations as if our 
Father had been slandered. We must have a new and 
higher conception of God and man. 

Two hundred thousand years ago humanity w^as as the wild 
man in the woods, and has been going up grade instead of 
down. And " it doth not yet appear what we shall be," save 
that we shall -be like Him. Curse ! Man is climbing up out 
of the brute into mind and soul, with the problem before him 
of how to live. Passion and ignorance still cling to him, and 
sensuality keeps him from the " full stature of the perfect man." 
He is not fit to die till fit to live. You would not want to live 
in heaven with men you would not live in Hyde Park with. 
No character, no heaven, is the music of heavenly obedience. 
Humanity in tune have heaven already. We need faith that 
our Father is at the helm, and that he is competent. We 
could not trust a partial God. As all light is from the sun, 
so all spiritual truth is from God. Let us, then, be open to it 
from any source, for the mission of the church is to gather and 
reflect this light. And that which best receives it has most of 
inspiration and most of God. Indeed, nature's laws are the 
true laws of God. Education is the very door-way of heaven. 
Conversion is turning about and going right, obeying the 
laws of God in our being. We carr}^ no pocket map of the 
other world, for the vineyards to be cultivated lay all about us 
and demand our human affection and labor. And we believe 
our friends who are humble are God's children, and this world 
a part of his many heavens. A good to-day is the best prepa- 



210 GATHERED LEAVES. 

ration for a good to-morrow. And as we go out into the un- 
seen we will trust the Father's love, confidently believing 

That when the morning brcaketh, 
He will not forget his child. 

A beautiful piece of music set to the dear old words, " Jesus, 
lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly" was finely sung 
by the choir previous to the lecture, and at the close all joined 
in singing " The morning light is breaking." 



TRIBUTE FROM THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL TO 
ELIZABETH K. CHURCHILL. 



The community in which for many of her latest years Mrs. 
Churchill lived and labored, is to-day paying to her memory 
the tribute of appreciative and grateful thought. 

We are her debtors because of her high ideals and her 
energy in trying to make them real. She longed to see the 
people about her leading clean and happy lives. She longed 
to stimulate their souls and to remove the hindrances by which 
some of them were sorely beset. With an earnestness, which 
was sometimes impatience, she toiled for these ends, using 
various and effective means. The moral atmosphere of our 
city is the purer because this woman of large gifts has abhorred 
moral pestilence. 

The readers of the yournal well know how trenchantly her 
pen has been used in combating intemperance and inanity of 
living, in pleading for enlarged opportunities for struggling 
women, in widening the horizon of narrow thought, in detect- 
ing and shaming oppression. 

Her life has been one of mental activity, overtaxing physi- 
cal strength which was always small. She was the daughter of 
Dr. Aaron Kittredge, of Bedford, Mass., and was born in 1829. 
She was early married to Mr. William Churchill, of Lowell, 
who died about twenty years ago, leaving to his wife's effi- 
cient care two little sons. 



GATHERED LEAVES. 211 

Into the tenderness of her home life some insight is given by 
the story entitled *' Overcoming," which was published in 
1870. We copy its touching dedication to her elder son, 
whose destiny she clearly foresaw : — 

'' My Dear H,,— 

For more than twenty-one years, thoughts of you and hopes for you 
have entered into all the warp and woof of my life. Our Father's 
thoughts and plans concerning you are higher and better than mine, 
and he has sent us tokens of His will that you should journey beyond 
the vail, where your hope is anchored. ' Though He slay me yet will 
I trust in Him.' 

I commit you to the care of the glorified Man of Sorrows, Avho holds 
in his tender clasp the cords that unite all human souls, there as here. 

As you stand upon the threshhold of two worlds, looking backward 
with lingering,.longing love, and forward with humble hope, I i)ring to 
you this little book. It is but a cluster of wayside pansies, but you 
will value it because the one who gathered them is, with undying 
love." 

Your Mother. 

For the maintenance and education of her young children, 
she exerted muscle as well as brain, being teacher of gym- 
nastics at the Riverside Seminary, N. Y., for a year, and 
when about thirteen years ago, she came to Rhode Island, she 
organized gymnastic classes in Providence and neighboring 
towns. 

She often and ably addressed audiences upon temperance and 
woman suffrage, subjects which were very dear to her. The 
Association for the Advancement of Women, chiefly known to 
the public by the annual "Women's Congress," numbered her 
among its officers, and to her, this city was indebted for the 
interesting sessions of that "Congress" held in Low's Opera 
House in the autumn of 1878. Partly through her connection 
with this society, Mrs. Churchill formed acquaintance with 
many of the ablest scientific and literary women in the United 
States, and her influence has led a number of them to address 
audiences in Providence. 

The Rhode Island Woman's Club, a private Association, 
which has grown to so large proportions that its title and aims 



212 GATHERED LEAVES. 

are familiar to many of our readers, was organized mainly 
through Mrs. Churchill's eftbrts, and during the earlier years 
of its existence she had the chief charge of obtaining suitable 
essayists for the fortnightly meetings. 

Her interest in the broader and deeper, as well as " higher 
education of women," was shown in countless ways. The 
Working-women's Lectures, instituted more than a year ago 
by Mrs. Churchill and another lady of Providence, and re- 
sumed this season, are too well known to need eulogium. Mrs. 
Churchill's latest appearance as a speaker was in this course 
last Tuesday afternoon, when she gave a thoughtful paper 
upon pre-natal influence. Her speech, like her pen, was 
fluent and keen. Both will be missed, but it is certain that 
both have quickened conscience which will continue her work. 
That no w^ord ever slipped too rapidly from tongue or pen, her 
friends would not claim. But it is her love for humanity 
which will be chiefl}- remembered. Of versatile gifts, electric 
in thought, always seeking the truth, recognizing in an elabo- 
rate lecture the nobility of Harriet Martineau, while herself 
cherishing a very different faith, she has left in our memories 
a vivid picture. How easy it is to think of her in the words 
which Curtis applied to his friend Theodore Winthrop — 
"alive, alert, immortal." 



AN EVENING WITH WHITTIER. 



" And, hushed to silence by a reverent awe, 
Methought, O friend I saw 
In thy true life of word and work, and thought, 
The proof of all we sought." 

—y. G. Whittter. 

The lines above written after the passing away of that dear 
friend of his, Lydia Maria Child, in " Within the Gate," show 
with what tender, appreciative soul he regarded those who 



GATHERED LEAVES. 213 

worked in "freedom's hope forlorn" "with scorn of selfish 
ease." Those who were permitted to enjoy the rare treat of a 
season with some of these brave spirits had a most refreshing 
time at the house of Mrs. Payson, on the evening of Dec. 1. 

AN EVENING WITH WHITTIER, 

w^as announcement sufficient to fill the rooms to overflowing, 
and tlie radiant hostess had all she could do to seat the large 
company. General Carrington opened with a few remarks of 
interest concerning those early times, and gave a glimpse of 
John Brown as a Connecticut school teacher, glowing with 
freedom. He introduced the 

HON. CHARLES COFFIN CARLETON, 

who took us to the birthplace of Whittier, and gave, partly in 
the poet's own words, a history of his early life of economy 
and privation. He told of the effect that Whittier's poems 
had on his early life, and stopping, asked that Airs. Tisdale 
would read the " Farewell of a Virginia slave mother to her 
daughter sold into Southern bondage." This she did most 
feelingl}^ His paper of itself would be a fine delineation of 
Whittier's life. Mr. Weld was next called upon, who gave 
delightful reminiscences of his acquaintance with the poet 
from the time when he was first shown the "black-eyed boy 
who w^ould make his mark in the world," to the poet whose 
shy and sensitive spirit would never let him stop to receive a 
word of praise. He narrated the exclamation of the blinded 
examiner in Fowler & Wells' studio, who, putting his fingers 
on his head, said, "I don't know whether you ever wrote a 
line of poetry or not, but if not, you are a public robber.?" 
He was too modest and conscientious to attend his (Weld's) 
wedding although he walked to the door with Abby Kelley 
and sent him a poem the next morning, commencing, "Alas 
and alas that a brother of mine," an amusing regret at his 



214 GATHERED LEAVES. 

leaving bachelorhood. Gen. Carrington then read a very fine 

poem, — 

"We honor thee, Christian poet! 
Oh, loved of thousands! 
Thj words so full of power shall never fail," etc. 

Mrs. Tisdale then said that his heart went out for the suffering 
as well as the slave, and .this song was one he enjoyed as much 
as any he had written — " What to her the song of the robin.'*" 
which she read exquisitely. Mrs. Pay son then read a letter of 
regret from Oliver Wendell Holmes, with a poem for Mr. 
Weld's little grandson, and another from Professor Brown, 
" New England claims and crowns the man ! " 

Mr. Bufium of Lynn, and Elizur Wright of famous memory, 
gave most interesting testimonials, the latter a short poem to 
the Poet " who had a heart to feel for human rights," and for 
" the mother in the sacred home." Mr. Buffum's account of 
the early prejudice against color were very amusing. The 
outrages he saw moved him to the defence of the colored race, 
and he got out of a car for New Bedford because Douglas was 
ordered out, and made the journe}^ with a "good anti-slavery 
horse." He told of taking him to England and the reception 
there by the Marquis of Westminster, and the banquet that 
was made for him, etc. 

Mrs. Tisdale then gave the " Taking of Lucknow," and a 
vote of thanks was given to the speaker, and a most hearty 
silent one to the getters up of so pleasant an evening. The 
lateness of the hour prevented any response to the sentiment 
for Whittier, though we doubt not there was a great amount 
of inspiration awaiting utterance. 



Rev. Phillips Brooks.— In a temperance address made lately 
in Boston, said : " Never shall my hand or voice be lifted against 
so-called temperance fanatics. If ever a cause justified fanati- 
cism, the temperance cause does. To me there is nothing 
more disgusting or more disheartening to the cause of hiunanity, 
than the selfish, ease-loving, luxurious man Indulging in dissi- 
pation, and denouncing the temperance fanaticism." 



GATHERED LEAVES. 



215 



AMONG THE CHURCHES. 




T the Unitarian church, last Sabbath, Rev. Mr. 
Powers, of Manchester, N. H., preached. 
His text was from John iii, 4, ''The life was 
the light of men." The influence of this grandest 
life has penetrated all conditions. When living in 
Palestine he drew men to him by the ineffable 
charm of his presence and words, and the blessed 
influence of his life has streamed through the most 
beclouded intellect. These thrill with their sub- 
lime music thousands who know not yet their 
significance. The despot trembles as he hears 
their words of tenderness for the poor and the oppressed. 
His cross was endured because he was so unselfishly true to 
the truth. The obligation of truth is made to keep its hold, 
and the darkness of the world lessens as he becomes more and 
more the light of men. It is the prerogative of all to put 
forth life, or expression, or influence, according to the pre- 
dominant quality of their life. The savage and brutal are kept 
in check, controlled and Christianized by the lives which, as 
far as they are right, are lives of God himself; for it is not God 
we can become acquainted with, and the lives of the best of 
men become lights to others.* The life of all past ages is 
handed down to us — the warmth of Paul going to Damascus ; 
the tenderness of Mary — for we are heirs of all the ages — 
not dominated by the past, but from it having derived many 
of the elements of our growth. A man's light or influence, 
depends on what he is in his interior life or character, and life 
depends more on quality than activity. One eloquent speaker 
fails to move conscience, when a far simpler man charms and 
helps, Goodness tells. The essential life creates an atmos- 
phere, for there is nothing lost in the universe of God. Men 



216 GATHERED LEAVES. 

cannot see the beauty of virtue and its contrast with vice with- 
out being affected. Every good act is a sunbeam, an expres- 
sion of the h'fe within and from the infinity of God. Life and 
responsibility are commensurate ; all who have a genuine life 
are benefiting others. We live in glass houses. We cannot 
keep back the sweet fragrance of our lives. Only to be, is to 
exert our influence. We are a curse if not a blessing. Doing 
nothing leads to damnation, in a Unitarian as in any other. 
Only those who cease to live can cease to shine and grow. 
All things are moral in God's universe and work for him. 
The speaker here alluded to Robert Browning's beautiful tale 
of the Italian girl going out on her holida}^ and singing of 
" God in his heaven," from her innocent, happy heart, and 
how no less than three different persons were uplifted in the 
crises of their lives by her strains. When she reached home at 
night she wondered how near she might ever approach the 
grand beings in the castles she had passed. But her melody 
had woven itself into the offices of prophet and reformer and 
friend. Thus, in the kingdom of heaven, "God hath chosen 
the weak things to confound the mighty." 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 



Rev. James Huxtable gave, some time since, a most 
interesting description of this fiimous edifice. In commencing 
he spoke of the vastness of London, where it was situated, and 
said that Boston, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago 
and St. Louis, all together, would not equal London. West- 
minster Abbey was built for a religious house or chapter, 
where resided the dean and his colleagues, and was afterward 
famous as the place where Parliament met. A rapid survey 
was taken of the resting places of the kings and queens whose 
memorials are here, and an apt and fitting word on their life 



GATHERED LEAVES. 217 

characteristics, with a fine description of the Poet's Corner and 
the beautiful chapel you pass in reaching it. The noble army 
of the dead you pass rise before you, and impress you with an 
idea of the infinite wealth of mind and moral grandeur, such 
as in our common-place life we become almost unmindful of. 
Next to going to Westminster Abbey must be such a vivid 
mind picture as this delightful lecture gives. It would form a 
most interesting addition to any lecture course, or a most in- 
structive lesson taken by Itself, so full of information and keen 
analysis of the immortal host passed on. 



THE THOUGHT CLUB. 



The third lecture of the Thought Club course was given 
Tuesday evening by Lysander DIckerman ; his subject, "Art 
and Architecture in Egypt," illustrated by the stereopticon. 
The speaker was introduced by Miss Pratt, president of the 
club, and he held the close attention of his audience for an 
hour and a half. He first gave a general description of Egyp- 
tian architecture, materials and tools used, the motive for 
building, etc. He spoke of the patience of the Egyptian 
workers in stone, centuries being consumed in the erection of 
many of their buildings. " Their motive was not money, not 
utility, not fame, but gratefulness to God." Their temples, 
pyramids and obelisks were graphically described, and as one 
after the other was pictured upon the screen, the audience 
might easily imagine themselves among and within the won- 
derful structures. "All things dread time, but time itsdif 
dreads the pyramids," seems equitable when one thinks of the 
centuries upon centuries they have survived, and will, without 
doubt, stand to the end. The flowers of the diftercnt species 
of the lotus were shown ; also, how they were worked into 
tlie architecture. The plan of the home, the needlework of 
the women, were each touched upon and pictured on the 



218 GATHERED LEAVES. 

screen. As an example of ancient American architecture, the 
old mill at Newport was shown, carrying some of the first 
members of the club back three years to their pleasant sum- 
mer's trip to that city. The Egyptians and Greeks had a style 
of architecture all their own, made for use, beauty and endur- 
ance ; and why, as a free country, cannot we have a style of 
our own, and not import the Egyptian obelisk, or stoop to a 
poor imitation of that of other lands? 



REV. JAMES HUXTABLE. 



" Swing inward, O gates of the futnre, 

Swing outward ye gates of the past, 
For the soul of the people is moving 

And rising from skimber at last; 
The black forms of night are retreating, 

The white peal<.s liave signalled the day, 
And Freedom her long roll is beating 

And calling her sons to the fvay." 

— James G. Clark. 

The discourse of Jesus with the woman at the well was 
the subject of Rev. James Huxtable's remarks last Sunday. 
The woman and the people were surprised that Jesus, being a 
Jew, would fellowship a Samaritan ; but he says, " God is a 
spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit 
and in truth." Only in spirit is he truly worshipped. Old 
traditions cling to us ; some are precious, but others prevent 
the truths of science from doing their best work, as when we 
are held to the acceptance of unreasonable ideas. We may say 
that great and good men who have studied these subjects all 
their lives believe them, and doubt is sinful. Sincerity of be- 
lief is not enough, good as it is. The bitterest of persecutions 
have been carried on in sinceritj^. The same good sense we 
would use in worldly affairs should be used in religion. Rea- 
son is the noblest gift of God to man. As the eye to see 



GATHERED LEAVES. 219 

or the ear to hear, it is given for use. When you put a 
shackle on it to make it subservient to tradition, you occasion 
suffering. The world suffers to-day by the attempts to stifle 
reason. When a man begins to see the loving Father as he is, 
his reverence is increased and larger ideas flood his soul. He 
may wonder he ever could have believed such contradictions. 
No truth will ever suffer by honest investigation, and the lieart 
that can thus grasp that great love is the one who loves God. 
If men would only teach as Jesus did, in the freedom of truth, 
in the spirit of the Eternal, their hearers would learn where 
God is found. Though full of strong utterances, the discourse 
was eminently calm and impressive, and was followed by the 
congregation singing Herbert's beautiful hymn : — 

" Teach me, mj Lord and King, 

In all things thee to see; 
And what I do in anything, 

To do it as for thee." 

A THOUGHT FROM RUSKIN. 

" Shakespeare has no heroes; he has only heroines," says 
Ruskin. As with Shakespeare so with Walter Scott — it is 
the woman who watches over, teaches and guides the youth ; 
it is never by any chance the youth who watches over or edu- 
cates his mistress. Next take the testimony of the great Italians 
and Greeks. You know well the plan of Dante's great poem 
— a love poem to his dead lady, a song of praise for her watch 
over his soul. Stooping to pity, she saves him from destruc- 
tion. So of the deliberate writing of a knight of Pisa, wholly 
characteristic of the feeling of all the noblest men of the thir- 
teenth century jDreserved among many such records : — 

" A man from a wild beast 
Thou madest me, since for thy love I lived." 

I could take you to Chaucer and show you why he wrote a 
Legend of Good Women, but no Legend of Good Men. 



220 GATHERED LEAVES. 

REV. WARREN H. CUD WORTH. 



The second lecture of the Lyceum Course was delivered on 
Tuesday evening last by the Rev. Warren H. Cud worth, his 
theme being " In the Dark." Notwithstanding its title, Mr. 
Cudworth contrived to extract a surprising amount of lumin- 
osity from his subject. "In the dark," he showed, necessarily 
implied the existence of light. The eclipse of the sun by 
the moon, for instance, once looked upon with such dread, 
would be impossible without the sun's light. All our mistakes 
and short comings in life are because of the fact that we are 
in the dark in regard to some natural laws, or to the main- 
springs of character of those whom we misjudge. The lectu- 
rer said that our'being left in the dark for a time was necessary 
to bring out our better qualities. Unless in the dark, we could 
have neither faith, hope nor charity ; for faith implies belief in 
what is not seen ; hope when we are no longer in the dark 
ceases to be hope, and blossoms into fruition ; and charity in to 
judgment of others is possible because we do not know but 
only ascribe motives to their acts and deeds. The rise and 
spread of great inventions, scientific truths, etc., were also 
shown to be owing to struggles against great obstacles, and a 
coming out of the dark. The lecture was full of choice 
thoughts, plentifully spiced with wit and anecdote which the 
reverend gentleman knows so well how to use with edifying 
effect. 



'• There is no unbelief; 
Whoever plants a seecj beneath the sod 
And waits to see it push awaj the clod, 
He trusts in God. 

Whoever says w^hen clouds are in the sky, 
" Be patient, heart, light breaketh by-and-by, 
Trust the Most High. 

Whoever sees 'neath winter's field of snovv^ 
The silent harvest of the future grow, 
God's power must know." 



GATHERED LEAVES. 221 



APPRECIATED TRUTHS FROM E. HUMPHREY, 



The subject of Woman suffrage is crowding upon us for solu- 
tion, and will continue to do so until we give it just and manly 
consideration. We have become so accustomed to considering 
woman as a tolerated fragment of the body politic, that we 
err iti our logic whenever we consider her inherent rights or 
attempt to do her justice. That a woman has a higher mission 
than to simply be society's bauble, is coming to be acknowl- 
edged and acted upon. To hold good rank in society it is not 
essential that our wives and daughters should be walking 
fashion-plates. The head is a more potent factor in our best 
civilization than the floral aberration that bedecks it. The 
large and loving heart is a better passport to the inner sanctu- 
ary of life, than are the tangled tints which revel in the folds of 
costly and elaborate dress. To be petted, flattered and fawned 
upon is not the highest ambition of noble womanhood, but rather 
to be respected, appreciated and loved. Woman has already won 
her position in art, literature and science, (we have magnani- 
mously granted the domestic realm) and now she stands on the 
very threshold of political action, and is knocking vigorously. 
Some would gladly open the door and bid her welcome, but 
society tugs at their hands to hinder them, fearing, probably, 
that political action will be shorn of its f resent purity. Has 
woman ever entered any field of laudable endeavor that she 
has not cultivated and adorned.? We may still keep her from 
political participation in public affairs, but so long as we do, 
masculine force will dominate, and justice and equity will be 
imperilled. The isolation of either sex is harmful in result, in 
whatever direction human energy and purpose projects itself. 
" What God has joined together let no man put asunder" has 
been cramped to a marriage shibboleth, when it truly applies in 



222 GATHERED LEAVES. 

its fullest significance to every interest which clusters about 
human destiny. 

The premises here outlined being correct, the way out of en- 
tangling difficulties grows clear. This " w^oman question," 
like many others, is wilfully misrepresented, because it runs 
athwart prejudice and self-interest. Divinely guided reason de- 
clares woman's equality with man, save when the barbarous 
desire to make physical superiority the test of human rights be- 
clouds the mind. If a republican form of government means 
anything, it is this, that every one of mature years shall have 
equal sovereignty in its establishment, protection and perpe- 
tuity. This being true, what right has man either to concede 
or withhold that v^hich is a woman's birthright.^ The most 
that man can do is to restore that which he has so long denied, 
and then take abundant leisure to repent of the outrage he has 
so persistently committed. 

The subject has again received its annual defeat in our State 
Legislature ; again has masculine prowess won a questionable 
victory. Our Representative is honored, as is his constituency, 
by arraying himself on this question in line with right and 
justice ; to him our thanks are due and given. 

Wisdom will outlive the opposing Solons, and will find at 
some later period valiant souls who will dare to admit woman 
to equal sovereignty with man. The future is bright with 
promise ; the ideal Republic will not fail of realization ; man 
and woman will yet walk the earth clothed with the panoply 
of power, gracing the exercise of their dominion by mutual 
authority and respect. 



THE WOMAN'S CONGRESS. 

The city hall of Portland, with its committee room, was at the 
disposal of the Congress, and the platform was beautifully deco- 
rated by the Dickens Club with flowers and artistic gems of 



GATHERED LEAVES. 223 

beauty and use ; so that the president, Mrs. Julia Ward 
Howe, her accompanying secretary and treasurer seemed as if 
seated in a charming parlor. They showed the vast amount 
of work done for science and philanthropy by these women, 
whose homes are no less ably carried on. 

The local and associated pre ss reported so fully and well 
that it was a great relief to those wishing to chronicle the 
doings of the Congress, some of the lengthy papers being 
reported entire. One or two papers failed of arriving, but 
Miss Mitchell's "Study of Saturn," was read by Mrs. General 
Lander, the astronomer being at present too busy with her 
telescope to attend the Congress. Her sister, Mrs. Kendall, 
was active and ballot counter. Miss Eastman seemed to be 
the favorite speaker, and was repeatedly cheered. 

But the half cannot be told in our short notice. The three 
days' session closed on Friday evening, 13th inst. Miss Abby 
May thanked the city, the press, the host and all for their kind 
attention, for the fine music, and for the invitation from the 
directors of the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad to visit 
White Mountain Notch ; also to Mrs. Spring for the visit to 
the Old Ladies' Home, and declared the tenth Congress 
adjourned. 

Saturday morning the members met at the station, and, in 
spite of drizzly weather, were most of them bound for the 
mountains. The trees were simply gorgeous in their gar- 
ments of flame, reminding one of " the burning bush," The 
gentlemanly superintendent. Gen. Anderson, accompanied 
them and in. the observation cars explained all the points of 
interest. When the clouds opened just a little to let the party 
see beyond, and the dark, rugged side of a mighty mountain 
appeared where we had been used to see the blue sky, it was a 
thrilling surprise. Our Portland hosts, whose hospitality was 
unbounded, had anticipated the closing of hotels at-'Fabyan's 



224 



GATHERED LEAVES. 



and prepared a bounteous repast, and, with cheers for the 
General and adieus to the Portlanders, this non-carousing 
party took train for Boston and home in the best of spirits. 



A PARTING WORD. 



In coming to the close of our little collection, which will 
doubtless show many faults that the ordinary eye cannot fail 
to detect, we kindly ask your charity and forbearance, in con- 
sideration of our sincerity of desire to produce in a convenient 
form, thoughts we have considered too good to be lost or which 
might be in the least degree helpful to others. 




Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Oct. 2009 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 



■ 1l 



